Creta’s comeback: a narrow win in a cooling market

Ten years after its launch, the Hyundai Creta is back on top. The SUV finished June 2025 as India’s best-selling car with 15,786 units, edging the Maruti Dzire by just 302. It’s a razor-thin margin, but it lands on a symbolic month for Hyundai: June marks a decade of the Creta nameplate in India and more than 1.2 million Indian families served.

The swing is notable because May told a different story. Creta was fourth last month at 14,860 units. In June, it climbed three spots, while the Dzire—May’s leader—slipped to second with 15,484 units. Maruti’s Brezza rounded out the top three among compact SUVs. The Maruti Swift re-entered the top five at 13,275 units despite a steep 19% year-on-year slide, nudging the Mahindra Scorpio out of the top bracket.

There’s a catch, though. The ceiling for best-sellers stayed under 20,000 units in June. That’s a change from earlier cycles where a top model often cleared that mark, and it hints at softer demand even at the sharp end of the market. Creta also saw a mild year-on-year dip—down 3% from 16,293 units in June 2024—showing that the recovery is relative rather than absolute.

Hyundai’s Tarun Garg, Whole-Time Director and COO, framed the month in human terms: “CRETA is not just a product, it is an emotion for over 1.2 million Indian families. Over the last decade, brand CRETA has consistently redefined the SUV space and remained a strong pillar of Hyundai’s growth in India.” The message is clear: this is the company’s anchor in a tricky market.

• Hyundai Creta: 15,786 units (No. 1; up from fourth in May)
• Maruti Dzire: 15,484 units (No. 2; leader in May)
• Maruti Brezza: Top compact SUV (No. 3)
• Maruti Swift: 13,275 units; back in top five despite 19% YoY decline
• Mahindra Scorpio: Moved out of the top five in June

The monthly leaderboard has always been a pulse check for India’s car market. In June, that pulse looked steady but not strong. The gap between the top two was tiny, the top slot sat below 16,000 units, and more models relied on marginal gains rather than big surges. That combination points to a demand curve that’s flattening, at least for now.

What the numbers say about Hyundai—and the road ahead

Zoom out to the company level and you see the same pattern. Hyundai sold 44,024 units in June 2025. That’s flat momentum compared with May’s 43,861 units, but 12% lower than June 2024’s 50,103 units. The quarter tells a similar story: Q2 CY 2025 came in at 1,32,259 units, an 11.51% decline from 1,49,455 units in Q2 last year. In plain terms, Creta’s headline win didn’t offset a broader slowdown.

Even so, the model’s consistency is hard to argue with. Since 2015, Creta has ruled the mid-size SUV segment every single year. It stayed among the top performers through March and April this year as well. That speaks to the mix that keeps it popular: a wide variant spread, multiple powertrain options, a cabin that feels premium for the price, and a brand that buyers trust on service and resale. Rival SUVs have improved fast, but in this segment, trust and familiarity still do heavy lifting.

The anniversary adds context to this moment. When Hyundai launched the India-focused SUV in 2015, the mid-size SUV space was smaller and less crowded. A decade later, it’s the hot zone of the market, with options from Maruti-Toyota, Kia, Honda, Volkswagen-Skoda, and MG. The fact that Creta remains the reference point says a lot about how quickly Hyundai iterates and how aggressively it defends the segment it helped popularize.

So what changed between May and June? A part of it is timing—monthly charts can swing on deliveries, variant availability, and end-of-quarter pushes. Creta’s rise from 14,860 to 15,786 units suggests Hyundai had a cleaner supply month and stronger showroom conversion. On the other side, Dzire’s slight step down was small enough to look like normal variance rather than a trend shift.

There’s also the backdrop of a market that looks more cautious. With best-sellers capped below 20,000 units, even popular models are running into a ceiling. That can happen when buyers wait for new launches, face higher ownership costs, or just get picky in a crowded field. The effect shows up across brands and body styles, not just in one corner of the market.

For Hyundai, the path forward is product-led. The company is lining up the second-generation Venue, the Elexio electric SUV, and a Stargazer facelift. Together, they aim to spread risk across segments and bring fresh footfall to showrooms. Venue has been a bread-and-butter model in the compact SUV space; a clean-sheet update could reset the nameplate. The Elexio targets the EV curve, where first impressions on range, space, and price will decide whether it breaks out. The Stargazer refresh can help Hyundai tighten its MPV story at a time when families want more flexible cabins without moving to a full-size people mover.

For Creta itself, the job is to keep its edge while the field catches up. The segment is unforgiving: one stale feature set or a slow update cycle can move the needle quickly. Buyer expectations have shifted too—safety tech, screens, connected features, and perceived quality are now baseline demands, not bonuses. Staying ahead means iterating on all of that while keeping prices within reach.

June’s chart also offers clues about competitors. Brezza’s consistency shows how strong the compact SUV sweet spot remains. Swift’s return to the top five despite a sharp year-on-year drop underlines how brand equity can cushion a model through a soft patch. And Scorpio exiting the top five signals how supply, mix, and competition can shuffle the deck in any given month.

Three things to watch from here:

• Can Creta hold No. 1 through a softer market, or was June a one-off delivery-heavy month?
• Will Hyundai’s new launches lift total volumes enough to offset year-on-year declines by the festive season?
• Do best-sellers climb back above the 20,000-unit mark, or is the market settling into a lower run rate for 2025?

For now, the headline belongs to Hyundai’s stalwart SUV. A decade in, it still commands attention, it still pulls buyers, and in June 2025, it did just enough—302 units, to be exact—to finish first.

• Automotive Industry

Written by Caspian Kingsley

Hi, I'm Caspian Kingsley, an expert in the field of education with years of experience in teaching and educational consulting. Passionate about sharing knowledge and helping others, I've written numerous articles and blog posts about various aspects of education. I am committed to staying current with the latest trends and developments, and I am always seeking to learn more and share my insights with others. I am dedicated to promoting innovation and creativity in education, and I believe that every student has the potential to succeed.