Mahindra closes in on Tata Motors as electric sales falter

Mahindra & Mahindra has surpassed Tata Motors as India's third-largest carmaker thrice in the second half of 2024 on new launches at a time cooling electric vehicle sales and an ageing line-up have hurt the fortunes of the Tata Group company.

- Alisha Sachdev

In August, September, and November, Mahindra, the maker of Thar sport utility vehicle (SUV), cornered 12.64%, 12.64%, and 13.14% share of the nation's passenger vehicle market, respectively, showed a Mint analysis of the government's vehicle registration data compiled by Fada Research.

That surpassed Tata's 12.26%, 11.53%, and 13.10%, respectively, for those months.

To be sure, overall Tata Motors is still ahead of Mahindra. Still, for a company that earlier this year was locked in a battle for the No. 2 spot with Hyundai Motor India, that marks a reversal.

Tata Motors' market share, driven by the Nexon EV, peaked at just over 14% in March but its performance has since deteriorated as India's nascent electric vehicle market has been hit by a withdrawal or reduction in Central government subsidies.

EVs account for just 2.5% of India's annual passenger vehicle sales of about 4 million units.

A few carmakers' troubles lie partly in its "over-reliance" on electric vehicles, which is still a nascent segment in India, said Gaurav Vangaal, associate director at S&P Mobility.