Tata Nexon sales on top gear as compact SUV found over 33,000 buyers since launch

• Tata Nexon finds over 4,000 buyers on an average every month
• Nexon helped Tata Motors take its UV market share to 8.31 percent
• Tata Motors recently launched Nexon with AMT gearbox

Tata Motors stepped into the burgeoning compact SUV segment in July 2017 with the launch of the Nexon. The segment already has rivals such as Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Ford EcoSport, Mahindra TUV300 and others. Hence, Nexon's success after being late to the party was doubtful.

Despite being a latecomer, Tata Nexon seems to have carved a niche for itself in the segment. A report in Autocar India confirms that Tata Motors has sold 33,088 units of the Nexon since the launch. The numbers also confirm the compact SUV has found over 4,000 buyers a month on an average.

The overwhelming response to the Nexon has also helped to ladder up in the utility vehicle space of India. From a mere 2.68 percent in August 2017, Tata Motors' utility vehicle market share now jumped to 8.31 percent. Though the Tata Hexa and other SUVs in Tata Motors stable also contributed to the total sales, the Nexon is the key model for the sudden spike in sales.

Tata Motors has recently expanded the Nexon range with the launch of Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) option. This is further expected to fuel the growing sales of the compact SUV.

Tata Motors sells the Nexon in 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol and the 1.5-litre naturally aspirated diesel mills. The 1,198cc three-cylinder petrol mill develops 108.5bhp at 5,000rpm and 170Nm of torque at 2,000-4,000rpm. The 1,496cc four-cylinder diesel mill churns out 108.5bhp at 3,750rpm and 260Nm of torque at 1,500-2,750rpm.  Now the compact SUV is available in both manual and automatic transmission options.

Rivals steps up the game

Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza is the arch-rival of the Tata Nexon and it is also the bestselling compact SUV in India. In order to add some bling, Maruti Suzuki launched 2018 Vitara Brezza last week with AMT transmission option, new features and colours.

Ford India also quickly responded by launching two new variants of the EcoSport. Ford EcoSport S is the sportiest version of the compact SUV powered by 1.0-litre turbo-petrol EcoBoost engine while Signature Edition is available as an option pack Titanium variant.