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-   -   What have been the best selling cars in India over the years? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/97740-what-have-been-best-selling-cars-india-over-years.html)

Hi everyone,

I have been looking online trying to find information about the best selling cars in India along the years.

I have posted a few articles to trace back the history of car sales in India since 1950, but as you will see the data is very patchy. Have a look at the articles below, and please comment on here if you have access to any more data, I would really love to have a more complete history of the Indian market!

India 1950-1984: Hindustan Ambassador 'king of the Indian roads

India 1985-2004: Maruti 800 dominates

India 2005: Maruti Alto takes the lead, Santro & Indica on podium

India 2006-2007: Maruti Alto first car to pass 200,000 yearly volume

India 2008-2009: Alto leads, Wagon R up, i10 arrives

Thanks for your help guys!

It is quite simple actually. Pre Maruti years, i.e. before 1983, it would have been the Premier Padmini and then somewhere till 2003, the Maruti 800 after which the Alto took over in 2006. It still rules the roost IMO.

If you need figures even before the Padmini and Amby heydays, it would be hard to get reliable figures unless you know someone in the CII or the Govt who can fetch old records for you.

From the time I know of cars, they'd be :

Premier Padmini
Ambassador
Maruti 800
Maruti Van a.k.a. Omni
Zen
Maruti 1000 a.k.a. Esteem
Indica
Santro
Sumo
Tempo Trax
Alto
i10
Honda City etc. etc

Quite a long segment-wise list actually.

Earlier there were fewer cars and most sold like hot pancakes. It is only now that there is tremendous range for every segment that the battle-lines have been drawn.

Thanks guys, does anyone have official data before 2009?

It is very hard to find! I only have official data for the Financial Years 2004/2005, 2006/2007 and 2007/2008, nothing else... :-(

Can anyone help?

How can one leave out Maruti Suzuki SWIFT from the list?

Hey,
The Maruti Suzuki Swift was never the best selling car in India as far as I know? But I may be wrong, and this is why I created this thread! Do you have any data that shows it was? Would love to see it if you do!
cheers

The one person you can trouble about this is GTO - you could ask him to dig up monthly figures of all cars from much before T-BHP came into being. lol:

But I wonder how exact a definition "best-selling cars" can be now with the amount of cars available in each sector. A few may be relatively "better-selling".

List is long ...
Amby
Fiat
M800
Omni
M1000-Esteem
Santro
Wagon R
Indica

There are other cars also like Safari, Sumo, Bolero etc but not in huge numbers. Indians do believe in buying TRIED & TESTED (TASTED) Things mainly.

Alright guys,

Could anyone confirm which car was the best seller in India from 1950 to 1983? Was it the Hindustan Ambassador (wikipedia seems to think so) or the Premier Padmini??

Thanks guys

In this era the best seller was definitely the Premier which had waiting lists that stretched for years. One had to pay a hefty premium to get one. There was a joke doing the rounds those days - book a Padmini when your child is born and he/she'll get it by the time they're 18.

Hey dr anurag, thanks for this this is very interesting! Do you have any data showing the Premier was best seller during those years?

Hi Aussie. I have no figures as such. My dad bought a Premier in 1974 which was booked several years back. Being a top Govt. official he got it 'out of turn'. :D The car cost Rs. 30,524/-. I still have the original receipt.
I also quote from Wikipedia '( Premier Padmini was an automobile manufactured in India from 1967 to 2000. Premier Automobiles Limited, erstwhile flagship company of India's Walchand Hirachand Group, assembled Fiat's Fiat 1100 cars from the 1950s until 1997. The car ruled Indian roads for three decades (1955-1985).)'