It is common knowledge that the Nissan Magnite and the Renault Kiger are sister sub-compact SUVs, both being identical under their skin in terms of platform and engine-gearbox options. March 2021 was the first full month that the Renault Kiger was on sale in India. Meanwhile, the Nissan Magnite has been around for about four months now. Although both SUVs are priced very competitively and are very closely matched on paper, the Renault Kiger has already outsold the Nissan Magnite in its first full month of being on sale in the country.
A look at the car sales figures of March 2021 reveal that Renault sold 3,839 units of the Kiger last month. Meanwhile, Nissan sold 2,987 units of the Magnite in the same period of time. In fact, the Renault Kiger secured 6th position in the list of best-selling sub-compact SUVs for March 2021, while the Nissan Magnite only managed to secure 8th positions. Both SUVs were separated by the Toyota Urban Cruiser in 7th position with 3,162 units sold. It's also worth mentioning that both the Magnite and the Kiger outsold the Mahindra XUV300, which is quite a popular offering in this segment.
Also Read : Renault Kiger vs Nissan Magnite - Which One's a Better Compact SUV?
Renault commenced deliveries for the Kiger from March 3 in India, and right from the start, the French carmaker has been very prompt with deliveries of the sub-compact SUVs to its customers. Just on the first day of the deliveries, Renault delivered as many as 1,100 units of the Kiger to its customers. On the other hand, Nissan has been suffering with a lengthy waiting period for the Magnite. Although Nissan's manufacturing facility in Oragadam is operating at full capacity, the carmaker has been bogged down by global shortage of semiconductor chips.
This is what is leading to a stay on the deliveries, which could perhaps explain how it fell short of the sales number the Renault Kiger has already managed in its fist month. Otherwise, there's very little separating the two SUVs. Both are offered with the same 1.0L NA and 1.0L turbo-petrol engines. Even the transmission options are identical. It is, however, worth mentioning that Renault additionally offers an AMT automatic gearbox option with the base 1.0L NA engine. Both SUVs are at par with each other in terms of features and equipment and their prices only differ by a few thousands.
As for other vehicles in this segment, it was the Maruti Vitara Brezza that emerged as the top-selling sub-compact SUV with 11,274 units sold in March 2020. It was closely followed by the Hyundai Venue in second spot with 10,722 units. The Tata Nexon came in third position with 8,683 units, marginally outselling the Kia Sonet for the first time with 8.498 units sold. The Ford EcoSport rounded off the top-5 list of the best-selling sub-compact SUVs for March 2021 with 5,487 units sold.
Stay tuned to IndianAutosBlog.com for more Renault and Nissan updates and other four-wheeler news.
