Not Baleno or Brezza or Nexon or even Creta, this hatchback is India's largest-selling car, 3rd year in a row

The SUV segment is driving the demand for cars in India. Its market share is increasing, particularly at the cost of the hatchback segment. Nonetheless, a hatchback has been ruling the domestic market for a very long time now, being crowned as the largest-selling car in the country for the third consecutive year in FY24. It is the Maruti Suzuki WagonR.

While the SUV segment grew to 50.4% of the domestic market in FY24, the hatchback segment declined to 27.8%. With volumes of 4,229,566 units, India became the third-largest car market in the world in FY24, only behind China and the USA. This was also the first time when the wholesales crossed the significant milestone of 4,000,000 units during a fiscal.

The Maruti Suzuki WagonR was the top-selling car in India in FY24 at 200,177 units. It was also the best-seller in FY23 at 212,000 units and in FY22 at 189,000 units.

In comparison, the Maruti Suzuki Baleno achieved volumes of 195,607 units, the Tata Nexon 171,697 units, the Maruti Suzuki Brezza 169,897 units and the Hyundai Creta 161,653 units, in FY24.

The price of the Maruti Suzuki WagonR starts at Rs 5,54,500 and goes up to Rs 7,37,500 (Ex-showroom). Its only direct rival in the market is the Tata Tiago.

In its third generation at present, the Maruti Suzuki WagonR has two engine options — 1.0-litre K10C petrol (67PS and 89Nm) and 1.2-litre K12N petrol (90PS and 113Nm). Both engines have 5-speed MT and 5-speed AMT choices. There is also a CNG option (57PS and 82Nm) with the 1.0-litre K10C petrol unit, and it comes mated to a 5-speed MT with no AMT option.

Like several other Maruti Suzuki cars, the fifth-generation Heartect platform underpins the WagonR. The popular hatchback comes with safety features like ABS with EBD, ESC and hill-hold.