Tata Motors and Mahindra in see-saw battle in key auto segments

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra have locked horns for supremacy in not just the car and SUV segment but the commercial vehicle segment as well.

In July, the two Mumbai-based companies lost their long-held positions to each other, actual vehicle registration data provided by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) show.

Passenger vehicle segment

Tata Motors displaced M&M in the passenger vehicle (car, SUV and van) segment to grab the third spot, behind Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. M&M was pushed down to the fourth spot.

Tata Motors saw 12,753 registrations for its PVs in July, resulting in a market share of 8.10 percent (6.07 percent in July 2019). In comparison, M&M saw 7,811 registrations and a share of 4.96 percent in July (8.47 percent in July 2019).

Deliveries of the new model, Altroz, and the restyled range of Bharat Stage VI models such as Nexon and Tiago pushed volumes for Tata Motors.

Speaking to analysts, Shailesh Chandra, President, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, said: “Production could only restart in a proper manner in June. And post that, we have steeply ramped up in July to service very strong demand”.

M&M officials blamed a fire at one of its headlamp and tail-lamp suppliers for crippling production of some models, including the Marazzo and XUV300.

Speaking to analysts Rajesh Jejurikar, M&M’s Additional Director & Executive Director,  Automotive and Farm Sectors, said: “We had to start prioritising models after the lockdown. Given the strong rural pull we had started prioritizing the Scorpio and Bolero. So some of our models haven't even got out yet — that's all pent-up (demand) and for Marazzo, XUV 300 and XUV 500.”

Commercial vehicle segment

But the commercial vehicle (CV) space paints a completely different picture.

Mahindra snatched the top spot from Tata Motors in the CV segment in July, perhaps for the first time ever, according to FADA data. Tata Motors was the unchallenged leader in the CV segment for several years, mirroring the success of Maruti Suzuki’s dominance in the PV segment.

M&M’s market share jumped to 46.29 percent in July (24.75 percent in July 2019) with registrations of 8,930 units. Tata Motors’ market share during the same month nearly halved to 21.03 percent (40.11 percent in July 2019) with registration of 4,058 units.

With Mahindra claiming the top spot and Tata Motors pushed down to the second, Ashok Leyland continues in the third spot.

“There is an overall increase in rural demand and that is leading to movement of goods and agriculture. So we are seeing a very positive demand for pickups. Small commercial vehicle (SCV) demand is picking up because of the need for last-mile mobility. There is a lot of demand for SCV ambulances and we are struggling to ramp up to requirements,” Jejurikar added.

The commercial vehicle category has been even more severely hit than the passenger vehicle segment because of slow national economic momentum. Smaller CVs, which cater to last-mile distribution, are gathering speed but the larger, medium and heavy (M&HCV) truck and bus segment are yet to come out of the woods.

“One sees higher demand for last-mile distribution, which is addressed by small commercial vehicles. In terms of demand contraction, it is maximum in medium and heavy commercial trucks as well as buses,” Girish Wagh, President, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, told analysts.

Tata Motors' share in the M&HCV segment stood at 58 percent as of June, as per wholesale volumes data provided by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. However, the M&HCV segment’s share in India's total CV tally tumbled to 14 percent till June from 36 percent in the same period last year. The numbers for July are yet to be shared by SIAM and FADA has not shared segment-wise data.

That small commercial vehicles have generated stronger traction is clear from the numbers for Maruti Suzuki, which has a presence in the commercial vehicle segment with two SCVs —  a van and a mini truck. Maruti's share in the CV space more than doubled to 7.12 percent in July (3.18 percent in July 2019), as per the FADA numbers.