However, with competition catching up, is the new Venue up to the challenge of fending off its rivals?
The refreshed Brezza will target first-time, replacement and additional-car buyers as Maruti responds to changing preferences and intensifying competition in compact SUVs.
India may see its busiest EV festive season in 2025 with SUVs, luxury cars and scooters set to launch, but rare-earth supply bottlenecks risk delaying rollouts.
For hatchbacks and sedans, offers range between Rs 40,000 and Rs 80,000 while SUVs and multi-purpose vehicles carry benefits exceeding Rs 1 lakh.
Between January and August 2025, over 65,000 units of the Bolero were sold, making it the third-highest contributor to Mahindra's overall SUV sales. Bolero annually achieves sales of over 1 lakh units.
Between April and August this financial year, passenger car exports rose 8.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), while domestic sales fell by 8.5 per cent.
'In the January-August period, the share of hatchback in the overall PV industry sales was about 22.4 per cent. In the September-October period, the share of hatchbacks has come down to 20.4 per cent. In just October, their share was just 20 per cent. This is simple wholesale data from industry body SIAM.'
77 per cent of all transactions in the January-March 2025 period took place digitally, indicating continued preference for online car purchases.
While the Syros shines in many areas, its ride quality is a point of contention, notes Rajesh Karkera.
In absolute terms, both types of cars must cut emissions by about 28-29 g/km. But in percentage terms, the lighter 900-kg car must reduce emissions by 27 per cent, while the 1,500-kg car needs a 22 per cent cut. And the target becomes progressively stringent for both -- but, once again, the tightening is sharper for the 900-kg car than for the 1500-kg car.
Major carmakers in the country are loading barrels for the coming battle in the field, reports Arnab Dutta.
Top carmakers led by Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Kia India on Saturday reported record sales in the domestic market riding on festive demand boosted by GST rate cut. Other manufacturers such as Skoda Auto India and Toyota Kirloskar Motor also posted impressive growth in sales in October.
koda Auto India is set to drive in a new car by the first half of next year to reach its target of 100,000 unit annual sales in the country by 2026. The compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) will be positioned against the likes of Maruti Brezza, Hyundai Venue, and Kia Sonet, and would be competitively priced, a senior company official said. koda will also export the car to right-hand-drive markets like Australia, New Zealand and the Asean nations.
Hyundai Motor India expects its SUV range to gain further traction in the domestic market with demand for personal mobility gaining momentum post the second wave of COVID-19, according to a senior company official. The company, which already leads the SUV space with models like Venue, Creta, Tucson and recently launched Alcazar, is looking to maintain its lead in the segment which is growing with each passing month.
What explains India's love affair with SUVs? They are not exactly "value for money" -- the watchword for brands across segments -- nor always practical. Is it for the badge value? Or the butch imagery associated with SUVs? Maybe both, says Alokananda Chakraborty.
'The semiconductor supply is constantly improving, with visible green-shoots in the situation as compared to earlier part of last year'
The Hyundai Venue car had five occupants, four of them students of Delhi University colleges, who were returning from a birthday party at a pub in neighbouring Gurugram.
The company further said once the situation was brought to its attention, it made the distributor acutely aware of the "inappropriateness of the action".
Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors reported their highest-ever dispatches to dealers last fiscal, enabling the domestic passenger vehicle industry to log in best-ever performance to date. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India reported its highest wholesales to date at 19,66,164 units, up 19 per cent from 16,52,653 units in 2021-22. Its domestic dispatches rose to 17,06,831 units in 2022-23, up 21 per cent from 14,14,277 units in 2021-22 fiscal.Hyundai Motor India said its overall wholesales last fiscal were the highest ever since commencing operations in the country.
The 2024 Kia Sonet facelift impresses with its comprehensive upgrades, ranging from a refreshed exterior design to advanced safety and technological features.
The Centre should provide a clear regulatory pathway that it will follow so that automobile companies can plan their investments and car launches accordingly, Venkatram Mamillapalle, managing director (MD) & chief executive officer (CEO), Renault India Operations, said on Tuesday. Renault is planning to launch five cars - including a B-plus segment sport utility vehicle (SUV), a C-segment SUV and an electric vehicle (EV) - in India in the next three years, he told reporters. In early 2022, the ministry of road transport and highways had announced that cars in India would be required to have six airbags from October 1, 2022.
A strong demand for diesel SUVs has bumped up the contribution of these variants to Hyundai Motor India's sales to a three-year high, a company top official told Business Standard. The local arm of the South Korean carmaker has benefitted after some leading manufacturers - including car market leader Maruti Suzuki - pulled the plug on diesel models amid tightening regulations. Hyundai has also gained from the changing travel preference -people are frequenting getaways and taking to the road a lot more than what they did before the pandemic. This trend has been fuelling overall SUV sales.
Dealers said the discounts this March are higher than the same month in the previous year.
With nearly 100 launches and unveils, the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025, held in Delhi from January 17 to 22, made one thing clear to automobile enthusiasts: Electric vehicles (EVs) are the way ahead for the Indian auto market for years to come.
In September, JSW MG Motor India, the newly minted joint venture between SAIC Motor, which is present in 100 countries, and Indian conglomerate JSW Group, launched the Windsor, an electric car that introduced battery as a service (BaaS).
Major carmakers, including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors on Friday reported growth in their passenger vehicle sales in June as semiconductor shortage woes showed gradual signs of easing out. Other manufacturers, Kia India, MG Motor India and Skoda Auto India also reported robust sales growth last month. Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) reported 5.7 per cent increase in total wholesales at 1,55,857 units in June as compared to 1,47,368 units to dealers in June 2021.
Smart positioning, continued communication and a global design language have played a big role, say experts
Lakshmi Venu, granddaughter of T S Srinivasan (TVS) and A Sivasailam (The Amalgamations Group), is managing director of Sundaram Clayton Limited (SCL) and director of TAFE Motors and Tractors Limited (TMTL).
'We are seeing one of the highest discounts in recent years across companies.' 'October is a crucial month with several festivals coming up.'
Tata Motors plans to set up separate sales network for its electric passenger vehicles in current fiscal year as it looks to give differentiated experience to the buyers opting for the environment-friendly models, according to a top company official. The Mumbai-based auto major, which on Thursday introduced all-new versions of its Nexon EV and Nexon (internal combustion engine), said it will start experimenting with new outlets in some of the cities where EV volumes have gone up. "We'll have to separate them (sales outlets for EVs and ICE) given that we have different requirements of customers and also a growing portfolio (of EVs)" Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles managing director Shailesh Chandra told PTI in an interaction.
Industry leaders on Thursday mourned the death of Ratan Tata saying with his demise India has lost a visionary who shaped its industrial and philanthropic landscape. Tata was a truly remarkable business leader who placed the country before business interests, and whose vision was truly transformational for a country and its people, TVS Motor Co Chairman Emeritus Venu Srinivasan said in a statement. "Mr Tata was a truly remarkable business leader, the likes of whom nations get only once in a century," he added.
What technologies do you fancy in your new car? Here are some popular cars in India with the most sought after technologies.
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Close to 50 models were launched in India in the past 12 months, but companies have not been able to realise their potential due to the pandemic.
'The decrease in the popularity of white cars and the rise in preference for darker colours like black, grey, and blue over the past three years reflect changing consumer attitudes.'
Although it has not announced the price bookings, sources say it could be in thousands.
The compact segment where Sonet will be launched is crowded with the Maruti Vitara and Brezza, which top the sales' list, and a bevy of models from Mahindra & Mahindra apart from Hyundai's offering. But volumes in this are slightly higher than those in the mid-segment, making it attractive, says Surajeet Das Gupta.
This year's edition, three years lost to the pandemic and scheduling, wore a distinctive shade of green, and, as would befit an era of technology shift from internal combustion engines to electric motors, had a clutch of high-technology exhibits and concepts. But the excitement of the expo's heyday was missing.
Tamil Nadu is leaving no stone unturned in marketing its upcoming global investors meeting on January 7 and 8. While business veterans are promoting the positives of the state's industrial climate through the 'Titans of Tamil Nadu" campaign, the state is narrating the human stories behind its robust industrial growth via the 'One Trillion Dreams' campaign. Among the industry bigwigs, who are showcasing Tamil Nadu to the world through this mega marketing initiative include Venu Srinivasan of TVS Motor Company, K M Mammen of MRF Ltd, Pratap Reddy of Apollo Hospitals, P R Venketrama Raja of Ramco Group, Mallika Srinivasan of TAFE; and Vellayan Subbiah of Murugappa Group.
Only five of India's top 20 car models have seen a reduction in wait times over the past year.
