The sales data for June 2026 shows an interesting development in the mid-size SUV segment. The Hyundai Creta, which used to lead this segment, dropped to fifth place. Maruti Victoris took the top spot. This may seem surprising at first. However, the drop in Creta’s rank is not due to low demand. It happened because of a recent fire at the Hyundai Mobis India plant, which is one of Hyundai’s key supplier partners.
In June, Maruti Suzuki sold 10,035 units of the Victoris. 10,853 units were sold in May, marking a 7% month-on-month decrease. Hyundai Creta, on the other hand, sold just 7,168 units. 15,235 Cretas were retailed in the previous month. These figures show a massive month-on-month drop of around 53%.
In overall rankings, the Creta stood at the fifth spot. It was at the absolute top position, the previous month. The reason for this fall is not declining demand.
Let’s first look at the Creta’s sales in the first five months of this calendar year- January 2026 to May 2026. During this period, Hyundai sold 84223 Cretas in the country. This means a monthly average of 16,844 units. Clearly, there is a steady demand for the SUV.
Over 17800 units of it were sold every month, in the first three months. After this, the average fell to over 15200 units a month. The magnitude of this drop in monthly volumes is not large enough to indicate an overall falling demand.
The actual reason for the modest June numbers is the fire that recently broke out at Hyundai Mobis India plant near Chennai. This incident happened during the late afternoon of May 31, 2026. Mobis India is a Tier-1 automotive supplier partner and a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai Motor India. It is also Hyundai’s exclusive supplier for parts and accessories. The company has its manufacturing and distribution hubs in Irrungattukottai near Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu.
The fire did not cause any fatalities. However, it destroyed a large amount of spare part inventory, which were supposed to be used on Hyundai vehicles.
According to reports, the affected area of the Mobis plant makes audio components and some other parts for use on Hyundai cars. The fire has caused major supply chain disruption, slowing production of several models.
These primarily affected Hyundai’s Chennai plant 1. Dispatches of the Creta were also affected by the above disruptions. The June numbers show just the same. Hyundai has clarified that the lost production count will be recovered in the current quarter itself.
Reports say that the fire started in an area where scrap materials were stored. It later spread to other parts of the factory. Emergency teams and firefighters reached the site promptly and worked to get things under control and minimize damage.
Factories like this usually have expensive equipment, raw materials and finished products (in this case, spare parts). Fire-related damages can take heavy financial tolls on the respective companies. Authorities will carry out a detailed investigation to find the exact cause of the fire and understand how much damage was done. Rough estimates point to losses of inventory worth lakhs of rupees.
Following the fire, Hyundai and Mobis teams assessed the extent of damage and arranged alternative sourcing to ensure supply continuity. These are believed to have limited the overall impact on plant operations.
Even though the fire slowed down production, Hyundai Motor India reassured customers that they have sufficient dealer inventory to meet immediate demand.
Let’s take a look at the larger sales picture of June 2026. The Victoris is at the first spot. The second-generation Kia Seltos ranked second with 9,654 units sold. The Toyota Hyryder took the third spot, posting sales of 9,104 units during the month. At the fourth position is Maruti Suzuki’s Grand Vitara that sold 9,092 units. And the Creta is in the fifth position.
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