Car Sales Hit Record High at 47 Lakh Units in FY26 Driven by SUVs
Sales at Maruti Suzuki increased 3.54 per cent y-o-y at 18,23,129 units in FY26, its best ever.
Pune: Car sales in India, the world’s third largest automobile market, clocked its highest-ever annual domestic wholesales in FY26, driven by Goods and Services Tax (GST) 2.0 and a strong festive season, with Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Toyota Kirloskar Motor clocking record volumes, while Hyundai Motor reported a decline.
Domestic car volumes rose around 8 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to nearly 47,00,000 units in FY26, the highest-ever annual sales, surpassing the previous peak of 43,40,000 units recorded in FY25, industry data showed.
The popular SUV segment accounted for nearly 58 per cent of the overall volumes, and the Maruti Suzuki Dzire sedan came top as the largest-selling car at 2,29,130 units in FY26.
Sales at Maruti Suzuki increased 3.54 per cent y-o-y at 18,23,129 units in FY26, its best ever.
Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer for Marketing and Sales at Maruti Suzuki, said income tax benefits, reduction in repo rate by Reserve Bank of India and GST 2.0 drove volumes.
In FY26, both Mahindra and Tata surpassed the 6,00,000-unit mark in annual domestic car sales for the first time, while also recording their highest-ever annual volumes.
Car sales at Mahindra jumped 19.73 per cent y-o-y to 6,60,276 units in FY26, driven by strong demand for SUVs such as the Bolero, XUV 3XO, Scorpio-N, Thar Roxx and XUV 7XO, while Tata reported a 14 per cent y-o-y surge to 6,31,387 units during the fiscal, supported by SUVs such as the Punch and the Nexon.
"The passenger vehicle industry sales are expected to reach record volumes of around 47,00,000 units for the year, reflecting 8 per cent y-o-y growth,” said Shailesh Chandra, MD and CEO, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles.
The industry witnessed a strong rebound in the second half, posting double-digit growth, supported by GST 2.0 and a robust festive season, he noted.
With stiff competition from rivals, Hyundai's annual domestic volumes declined 2 per cent y-o-y to 5,84,906 units in FY26.
Tarun Garg, MD and CEO at Hyundai Motor, said that the Creta SUV-maker remained confident of sustaining the sales momentum with new product interventions like the new Verna sedan and the new Exter SUV.
Sales at Toyota Kirloskar Motor were its best-ever annual volumes which rose 19 per cent y-o-y at 3,67,107 units in FY26. Sabari Manohar, Executive Vice President for Sales-Service at Toyota said sustained demand across its SUV, MPV and compact segments drove the sales.