As per industry estimates, as many as 138,322 MPVs were sold in the local market during January-May 2022, up 54% from a year earlier. Sales of SUVs increased 21% to 565,384 units in the same period.
In the year 2021, sales of SUVs had grown 62% to 1,147,227 units, faster than MPVs which posted a 32% increase in sales at 248,470 units.
The share of MPVs in India’s passenger vehicle sales has increased to 9.2% in the first five months of 2022 from 6.8% a year earlier. Total passenger vehicle sales rose 14% to 1,506,765 units in the same period.
A natural consumer shift towards the utility vehicle body type, coupled with new launches such as the all-new
XL6, Kia Carens as well as the Renault Triber, are driving growth in the segment, said industry insiders.
While Maruti Suzuki continues to dominate the segment with a 55% market share for its Ertiga and the XL6, Korean automaker Kia has made fast inroads and its Carens is almost neck-to-neck in sales with the Innova Crysta, Toyota’s top-selling model in India.
In the five months through May, Kia sold around 23,058 units of Carens, compared with 23,700 units of the Innova Crysta. Renault came in fourth with sales of around 13,700 units of the Triber MPV.
