Hyundai, Kia lose compact SUV market share

KOREAN AUTO MANUFACTURERS Hyundai and Kia-the leaders in the compact SUV category with car models like Venue and Sonnetare slowly losing their market share in the segment, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers' data.

- VIKRAM CHAUDHARY

The sales data shows that their competitors like Renault, Nissan, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki are fast catching up.

Hyundai's Venue and Kia's Sonnet are facing a tough competition from Renault's Kiger and Nissan's Magnite as well as established models like Maruti Suzuki's Brezza and Tata Motors' Nexon.

Even though Hyundai and Kia sold more units of Venue and Sonet in 2022 over 2021, their market share has dropped as the competitors had an impressive jump in their sales numbers, the data showed.

In CY22, Hyundai sold 120,703 units of Venue, at 11.8% increase over 108,007 units sold in CY21.

Kia sold 86,254 units of Sonet in CY22, at 8.8% increase over 79,289 units sold in CY21.

But sub-4 metre SUV sales grew a whopping 28.1%, from 706,310 in CY21 to 904,880 units in CY22.