Agree or not, every body loves SUVs especially Indians. Their appeal is something that Indians desire for. They can comfortably carry at least 7 passengers and can go off-roading with ease. The history of SUVs isn’t very long for India. The first SUV to be launched in india was the Tata Sierra. The three door SUV with those curved rear side windows has a fan following of its own. But, sadly it didn’t really take off unlike its pick up sibling the Tata Telcoline. The segment was revived with the launch of the Ford Endeavour and since then, the segment has come a long way. From Mahindra to Mercedes, almost all the manufacturers have their full size SUVs on sale today .
The introduction of new players doesn’t mean that old players are out of the game, in fact, the old players are still the king. The Ford Endeavour and Toyota Fortuner still remain the top dogs with the Fortuner slightly ahead of the Endeavour in terms of sale numbers. Consumers have a lot to choose from in this segment. Where SUVs like the Fortuner and Endeavour are muscular and rugged, Cars like the Mahindra Alturas G4 and Skoda Kodiaq provide a more elegant and premium feel. The Ford Endeavour surprised the world when it was launched with worlds first 10 speed automatic, I wonder how smooth it is going to be.
The segment has not seen any new launches since almost a year. One can say that the top sellers are getting old. Though Toyota has announced a facelift for the Fortuner and will soon be launched in India, it will still remain to be out dated compared to its competition. On paper, the most worthy SUV is the Skoda Kodiaq’s laurin and klement variant. It comes with the latest tech which includes a fully digital instrument cluster, a 360 degree camera, hands free parking and many more features. But, the audience hasn’t given it the love it deserves as it has the least sales number amongst all its competitors. While the Mahindra Alturas G4 comes up to be as the blend of all these SUVs, it’s big and bold, it has plush interiors and comes at a very aggressive pricing but its underpowered engine and not so appealing looks pulls it to the 3rd spot in terms of sale numbers.
| Full-Sized SUVs | Number of units sold in June |
| Toyota Fortuner | 1223 |
| Ford Endeavour | 716 |
| Skoda Kodiaq | 93 |
| Mahindra Alturas G4 | 109 |
MY VERDICT
Every SUV offered in the Indian market have a USP of their own. But if we look at the other segments, the competition here is the least and the demand is considerably high. The consumers can really benefit with entry of some new players. Gladly, KIA and MG are expected to launch their full size SUVs soon and the new company, Haval motors is also expected to make its entry into India with the launch of a full sized SUV.
Stay Tuned!
The CarGuy 