Made-in-India Cars for Certain Brands only Play Well in Global Market | Auto News

By Pune Media On May 4, 2025

Auto News

Car manufacturers like Nissan, Honda and Hyundai have made more exports for certain models, sustaining the production of the cars following lack of enthusiasm from Indian market.

Indian automobile factories are producing more and more passenger vehicles for the exports around the world. (Picture Credit: depositphotos)

New Delhi: In a strange sequence of events, six models from India are now seeing bigger numbers of exportation than domestic sales. These numbers include cars like Nissan’s Sunny and Magnite, Honda City and Elevate, Hyundai’s Verna and Jeep Meridian. Though these cars were designed for the Indian market, they have garnered more interest in the foreign market.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) released an analysis of the FY25 data. It showed that the shifts in exports are often due to less enthusiasm from the domestic market and the carmaker’s ability to recognise this and instead serve global demand effectively.

How car makers are using exports as a sales strategy

Honda Elevate is a great example of this, having been launched in 2023, with high expectations from the market. Honda had expected a big demand for the Elevate, and so they had increased the production of the car. However, the sales failed to meet the projection, and hence, the Elevate was focused on export, with the car being sold as WR-V in the Japanese market.

In FY25, Honda sold 22,321 units of the Elevate while it exported 45,167 units. The year before, the sales in the Indian market were 33,642 units, while the export numbers were just 10,273 units. Having increased Elevate’s production by 54%, Honda’s low sales needed the strategy of export to maintain production continuity.

The Verna from Hyundai had a similar story. The automaker had anticipated that the Verna’s 2023 relaunch would spark interest in sedans, which have gradually fallen behind SUVS in India. However, Hyundai relied on its established export system when demand failed to materialise.

In international markets, including the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, the Verna gained a lot of interest. In FY25 alone, Hyundai exported more than 50,000 units, using its extensive global network to offset weak domestic sales.

Nissan has also benefited from exports. The 2020 lockdown in India led to the discontinuation of the Sunny sedan, though is still manufactured for foreign markets. Nissan exported about 42,000 Sunny models in FY25. More than 180,000 units of the now-defunct-in-India model have been shipped over the last five years, positioning India as a key location for the brand’s production.

Nissan’s Magnite was introduced in 2020 and was for the purpose of a mass market SUV for Indian buyers, achieving immense success abroad. A total of 30,146 units of Magnite were sold in FY24 locally, while 8314 units were exported. Although production increased significantly to 57,036 units in FY25, exports surged to 29,155, almost matching local sales, which dropped to 27,881 units. This trend also applies to the Jeep Meridian.

Does export solve the brand’s woes completely?

Many view it both as India’s production abilities, but also see a sign of a much bigger issue. While the production quality may be of international standards, the brand hasn’t really gotten the pulse of the Indian market, it seems, despite being in the market for the last decade or even more.

There are some more brands in line for following this trend, with Skoda aiming to export the decently successful Slavia to the right-hand market. Exporting might help maintain the production woes, but it still means the brands haven’t managed to win the Indian customers as such.

Roheen Ghosh

Roheen is an enthusiast for all things sports and motoring. He regularly follows football and cricket and immerses himself in the tactical intricacies of the game and keeps his eye on the automotive industry’s development.

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