South Korean carmaker Kia Motors, which started its operations in India in August, stormed into the list of top five carmakers in the country in terms of market share in October, leaving behind established players such as Toyota, Kirloskar Motors and Honda Cars India at a time when most carmakers are struggling to tackle the slowdown.
With its single product Seltos, Kia Motors gained a market share of 4.52% by selling 12,850 units during the month.
Analysts tracking the industry said the momentum for Kia will continue as the carmaker has already got bookings for 60,000 units, out of which the company has dispatched 26,640 units or just 44% of the total orders received till now.
The other new entrant, MG Motor, sold 3,536 units of Hector, registering 1.24% market share, higher than that of the likes of Volkswagen, Nissan and Skoda.
Out of the 14 carmakers in India, Maruti Suzuki and Renault also increased their market share in October. While Maruti Suzuki, the maker of popular models Baleno, Alto, Swift and Dzire increased its market share by 50 basis points or half a percentage point, the French carmaker Renault posted 4.04% market share, up from 2.51% a year ago, on the back of its newly launched Triber and Kwid Facelift models.
Maruti Suzuki dispatched 139,000 units last month, compared to 135,948 units a year ago, growing at 2.24%. The carmaker managed to grow because of heavy discounts coupled with five-year warranty schemes on its popular models. New launches such as S-Presso and XL6 also contributed to the overall sales of the company.
Renault India posted 62% growth in domestic sales to 11,500 units. For the first time, it surpassed sales of the Japanese carmaker Honda Cars India, which managed to sell only 10,010 units in October.
