Small car market share falls in India

The latest trends in the automobile industry indicate a change in preferences of the Indian customers with a fall in the market share of the small car segment in 2011. The market share of the segment fell below 50 percent and has proven to be the dullest. The entry compact segment has a number of cars such as the Tata Nano, Maruti Suzuki Alto and WagonR, Hyundai Santro, i10 and Eon, General Motors’s Beat.

The premium compact segment however retained its market share of 11 percent in 2011 growing steadily at a rate of 6.5 percent. The segment consists of cars such as Maruti Suzuki Swift, Volkswagen Polo, Hyundai i20, etc.

In comparison to the small car segment, the SUV segment showed a considerable growth of 32 percent in 2011 in spite of being more expensive than the small cars, the fastest growth rate across segments in 2011.

Industry experts attribute this trend to the maturing of the Indian auto customers and their upgradation to premium cars and SUVs. Moreover, diesel being cheaper than petrol the absence of diesel alternatives in the small car segment has furthered the decline in sales in comparison to the premium compact car segment in which most of the cars have diesel alternatives.