What Is the Difference Between Hatchback and SUV Cars?
Often we are a little confused about hatchbacks and SUVs, but they are both different. Hatchback words are generally used to refer to small cars like Wagoner, Alto, Baleno, etc.
Typically, the term “SUV” (Sport Utility Vehicle) refers to vehicles with a longer wheelbase and more interior space than a sedan. Tata Nexon, Duster, and numerous other models are available.
Current market of hatchback cars in India
The market share of hatchback cars that were quite popular in India has fallen from 29% of sales in 2012 to 9% in 2021. It is a steep fall in its market share. Furthermore, the top 3 players, Maruti, Hyundai, and Tata Motors, have a good market share and account for 92% of hatchback space, which leaves almost no room for others.
As a result, other players like Honda, Volkswagen, and Nissan are planning to go out of the hatchback car segment. Honda Jazz is likely to discontinue in 2023, Volkswagen polo produced its last batch of polo editions while Nissan discontinued budget car brand Datsun in India.
Why is the hatchback car market segment going down?
There are the following factors that might be a cause of its downfall:
- Changes in customer preferences
- An increase in disposable income
- Comfort and safety — as you know, hatchback cars contain less space, which leads to lower comfort and a lack of safety in terms of parts and body.
- COVID-19 is a major factor in the shift from hatchbacks to SUVs during the lockdown when public transportation was shut down and families with six to seven members struggled to fit in a hatchback because they could only fit four people.
- Attractive price — as if you see, initially 2-3 years ago, the price of an SUV car was around Rs. 9-10 lakhs with attractive features like navigation, airbags, interior, roof, etc. As a result, new youngsters were attracted to it.
The Future of SUVs in India
As you can see, SUVs are becoming a trend as 4 out of 5 car sales are SUVs. Even in just 2-3 years, the market scenario has completely changed. Players like Kia come with seltos, sonnet, MG comes with hector, Tata Motors comes with Nexon, harrier, safari, Mahindra comes with XUV 300, XUV 500, Hyundai comes with Creta, venue and many more.
In just 2-3 years, we have seen drastic changes in the auto industry. Furthermore, a new twist has also arrived: many players have started to build electric SUVs like Tata Motor (Tata Nexon), Hyundai (Kona), Mahindra (XUV 300), and MG Motor (MG electric Crossover), and many more.
Conclusions
Despite shedding their market share, hatchback cars are still in demand by middle-class people, but their future is vague as, in the last couple of years, SUVs’ market share grew by 29% and is expected to grow to 53% by 2026. That means higher growth ahead. And electric vehicles will add a wing to their journey.
Let’s see what happens next.
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