Maruti DZire and Swift lead, Alto down to #3 for first time in one decade!

For the first time since last August, the Indian new car market gains ground year-on-year: up 5% 202,659 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 1,046,375 units, down 3% on 2013. Big events atop the models sales charts: first, the Suzuki Swift DZire is the most popular vehicle in the country for only the second time ever after May 2013 thanks to 18,953 sales and 9.4% share. This is only the third month in the past 119 that the Alto is not India's best-seller, the other one was in April 2012 when the Maruti Swift took the lead. Second, the Maruti Swift also outsells the traditional leader, the Maruti Alto, at 17,936 units and 8.9% vs. 17,311 and 8.5%, kicking the Maruti Alto into third place for the first time since June 2004, exactly a decade ago...

Hyundai Xcent

Meanwhile the Maruti Wagon reclaims the 4th place it holds year-to-date off the Hyundai Grand i10 with 11,757 sales vs. 9,317 while the Mahindra Bolero remains 6th at 8,846 units. The Hyundai Xcent confirms its runaway hit status by gaining one further spot on April to a record #7 with 7,792 sales and 3.8%, overtaking the Honda City extremely strong once again at 3.6% share. The Maruti Celerio is down one rank to #11 but continues to impress, the Toyota Innova is above 5,000 sales for the first time since last October at a brilliant 12th place and the Datsun Go cools down at -26% on April to #28 and 1,992 sales, still Nissan's best-seller however.

Datsun Go

Further down: no improvement for the Tata Nano down 3 spots on last month to #38 with just above 1,000 sales, and the Toyota Corolla reappears in the ranking at #46 thanks to the new model now available in the country. Brand-wise, both Maruti (+16%) and Hyundai (+13%) defy the current doom and gloom and reinforce their domination, the latter delivering its highest monthly volume since March 2012. Mahindra rounds up the podium but drops by 23% while Honda and Toyota shine, both gaining 18% year-on-year. Notice also Ford up 51% and Nissan up 46%. Datsun is now #12 both in May and year-to-date with 6,750 sales so far this year.

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