Sports utility vehicle (SUV) has become the best selling segment in the Indian market again in financial year 2025-26 (FY26), as customers’ preferences are going more towards the SUVs, as compared to other segments in the market.
Data sourced from industry sources has indicated that India sold more than 26.34 lakh of SUVs in FY26 and the share has gone up to around 56 per cent during the year in the overall passenger vehicles (PVs) in the country. In FY25, it was 54.3 per cent with sales of around 23.66 lakh units.
In terms of rankings, Tata Motors’ Nexon SUV tops the chart with 2,16,054 units during FY26 as compared with 1,63,089 units in FY25. Hyundai Motor’s Creta followed Nexon at around 2,01,921 units during the last financial year as compared with 1,94,871 units in the year ago period.
According to the data, Tata’s small SUV ‘Punch’ is ranked three with around 1,83,980 units in FY 26 as compared with 1,96,572 units in FY25, and Maruti Suzuki’s Brezza is is at number four with around 1,80,104 units last year as compared with 1,89,163 units in FY25.
“Nexon and Punch emerged as the highest selling SUV models in H2, underscoring the strength of our SUV portfolio…our recent launches of Sierra, refreshed Punch and petrol version of Harrier and Safari continue to see progressive growth in customer traction, across bookings, enquiries and deliveries. Looking ahead, industry momentum is expected to sustain, led by growth in SUVs, CNG and EV,” Shailesh Chandra, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, said.
Mahindra & Mahindra’s Scorpio ranks fifth in the list with sales of around 1,78,800 units in FY26 as compared with 1,64,842 units in FY25.
Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India said that with options available like Petrol, strong hybrid, CNG and electric (with e Vitara), in the SUV segment, there are more choices to the customers in this segment.
Strong hybrid
“Presently, we are having a strong hybrid in Grand Vitara, Victoris and Invicto, and we feel that we are giving options to the customer in the mid-SUV segment – they can go for internal combustion engine (ICE), CNG…just to give a perspective, even the underbody CNG is doing very well. Victoris with underbody CNG, which is the first in the segment, out of the total bookings which we are receiving, the booking of CNG is almost 40 per cent,” Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India told reporters recently on sales call.
According to Puneet Gupta, Director at S&P Global Mobility, the continuous launch of new SUV models across diverse price points and size segments has significantly democratised SUV ownership in the country.
“Coupled with rising consumer aspiration for more spacious and safer vehicles, purchase decisions are increasingly tilting in favour of SUVs, making them the most preferred body type in the market,” Gupta added.