In a major upset, homegrown Mahindra and Tata Motors overtake Hyundai to emerge as no. 2 and 3 car sellers in India

New Delhi: In one of the biggest upsets in the Indian car industry, homegrown Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors pipped Korean Hyundai to emerge as the second- and third-largest passenger vehicle makers in the country, behind only Maruti Suzuki.


The growth for M&M as well as Tata Motors is nothing short of remarkable as the two companies rode the love of Indians for SUVs to gain market share and volumes. Also, the strong focus on vehicle safety as well as connected cars also helped them grow strongly, something which other companies are now following aggressively.


While Maruti led the domestic passenger vehicles market on sale of 18.2 lakh vehicles and a growth of 3.5%, Mahindra moved up strongly on the back of demand for its SUV range comprising models such as the Thar, Scorpio-N, and XUV7OO (now XUV 7XO). The company emerged as the second-largest seller with total volumes of 6.6 lakh vehicles and a growth of 20%.

L = Lakh, K = Thousand, Domestic market salesSource: Company Data




Mahindra also leads the SUV market in India at a time when the share of off-roaders to total industry sales has grown from 54% in FY25 to 58% in FY26. “Our ambition has been to be the No. 1 SUV player by revenue and we are proud to have achieved that. We are equally humbled to be the No. 2 passenger vehicle company for FY26. Above all, our priority remains unchanged: to create products that truly wow our customers and we are delighted to see that coming to life,” Rajesh Jejurikar, ED & CEO (Auto and Farm) of M&M told Times Internet.


Tata Motors has also had a remarkable turnaround in fortunes over the past few years, led by SUV models such as volume grossers Nexon and Punch. The company’s latest launch Sierra SUV has also received a strong opening in the market. For FY26, the company recorded sales of 6.3 lakh units at a growth of 14%.


“For Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, we expect to build on the strong momentum of FY26 second half and continue to deliver industry-beating growth in FY27, supported by recent launches, a strong pipeline of new products, and established multi-powertrain strategy,” MD & CEO Shailesh Chandra said.


For Hyundai, it’s an uphill task to regain its ranking in the market. The company, while scoring strong monthly numbers under new India MD Tarun Garg, has quite a stiff task at hand. While others gained in numbers in FY26, Hyundai was the only top player to have seen volumes decline year-on-year. It sold 5.8 lakh vehicles in the domestic Indian market in FY26 against 5.9 lakh vehicles in FY25, the volumes coming down by 2%.


To mark a revival in the market, Hyundai has plans to invest Rs 45,000 crore by fiscal 2030 and launch 26 new cars that will include seven new nameplates, eight hybrids and five EVs.


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