Why Hyundai Creta is still the king of Indian roads after 11 years—brand value to looks

Hyundai was never scared of rivals overtaking them last year. But in 2027, the mythical ‘Creta Killer’ may finally emerge. Or it could continue to remain a myth.

In 2025, the Creta was India’s most popular single model in India | Source: Hyundai

Some of you might be watching the ongoing T20 Men’s Cricket World Cup and have noticed that the camera often cuts to a Hyundai Creta on display just alongside the boundaries. That is because the Korean carmaker is now a global sponsor of the International Cricket Council for the 2026-2027 season. 

This is not Hyundai’s first brush with cricket. They have been a partner of the ICC previously as well, several members of the Indian Women’s team have been their brand ambassadors, and they are an associate sponsor of the BCCI, too. In a country where cricket is by far the dominant sport, Hyundai’s association with cricket makes sense. 

But why the Creta? Hyundai is a global carmaker that announced to launch 26 to 27 models by March 2030. Wouldn’t an upcoming model make more sense, or something more premium? During a recent interaction with Virat Khullar, marketing head, Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL), he simply stated that the Creta remains Hyundai’s most important product in India. “It just makes sense,” he added.

Record sales

In 2025, the Creta was India’s most popular single model. In a year when Hyundai was deposed from its perch at second position and was overtaken by Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, the Creta dominated sales. According to Hyundai India, they sold over 2,01,122 units, beating the Tata Punch, which sold 1,73,502 units, albeit by a very narrow margin. “We sold over 550 units of the Creta every day”, Khullar said with a smile.

But here is the thing, the Hyundai Creta is in a different and larger segment. The Punch is priced between 5.5 lakh and 10.5 lakh. Prices for the Creta range from a shade under 11 lakh to more than 21 lakh for the top variant. The most popular Petrol SX model has an ex-showroom price of just under 15 lakh, and almost two lakh more for the diesel variant. 

The Creta is a major reason why average car selling prices in India are rising, reflecting the growing dominance of the compact SUV (CSUV) segment (SUVs between 4-4.5 meters in length). With the recent (re)launch of the Renault Duster, there are 27 different vehicles in this segment alone. 

And every single time a new vehicle is launched in this segment, multiple video ‘reviews’ on YouTube will dub it a ‘Creta Killer’. But after almost eleven years and a cumulative 1.3 million units sold, nothing has been able to ‘kill’ the Creta, which still dominates its segment with one-third of sales.

What is the reason for such continued success? One of the main causes is that the Creta is still available with a diesel engine variant. According to Hyundai, diesel accounts for 44.3 per cent of sales, petrol for 51.7 per cent and the rest is electric. Given that Maruti-Suzuki, Skoda-Volkswagen and even Renault don’t sell diesel motors anymore, the Creta still attracts buyers, particularly in states where petrol is extremely expensive. However, Kia (Seltos), Tata Motors (Curvv, Sierra) and Mahindra (Thar ROXX) also benefit from diesel variants. 

But during a recent media drive, a marketing head of another automaker attributed the Creta’s success to a couple of other factors. First, Hyundai’s ever-increasing sales reach close to 1500 sales points. “This helps with customer trust”, the gentleman reckoned. The second, he said, was that the Creta was ‘inoffensive’, and he did not mean that in a negative way. 

“There are vehicles out there which are show-offs; it is all about the design elements, the vehicle stands out. The Creta is not like that because there are many customers who do not want to stand out. In fact, I feel that a vast majority of customers just want a reliable vehicle,” he added.

From brand value to looks

The Creta has also always followed design trends while not pushing the limits. The latest iteration has the connected headlights and taillights popular across vehicles these days. Gone are the wheel covers on all but the lowest trims repleced with bigger and better alloy wheels. In addition, Hyundai has always been a leader in promoting sunroofs and now panoramic sunroofs, although my opinions on those are not complimentary.

Then, of course, there is the very powerful brand value of Creta. It came as a reminder recently when a friend wanted some car-buying advice for his colleague. He had a regional manager in his firm who had been given a budget of 15 lakh for a car, and because he travelled long distances, he wanted an automatic. But more than anything, he wanted a Creta.

When I spoke to him and explained that, other than a very basic specification, he had no option with an automatic. Whereas other brands had automatic variants of their CSUV available with technology and comfort features at his budget, even the slightly smaller (but newer) Hyundai Venue, this gentleman was adamant on a Creta. And eventually he bought a manual variant because he did want some comfort features like a touchscreen, but also demanded a panoramic sunroof, the latter feature being standard even in middle trim levels of the vehicle.

And this gentleman is not alone, there are many other people I speak to who just want a Creta. Other vehicles could have more features for a smaller sticker price, and they could be more exciting to drive or have better road presence—but no, the Creta it is. And when I narrated this story to Virat, he just smiled and said, “That is why we have to reinforce the brand image of India’s most popular SUV at the World Cup.”

Personally, I like the Creta. I think it is a perfectly nice vehicle, but nothing spectacular. If I had to buy one myself right now, I would probably choose the electric version, especially if I have to drive around the city. There are some rivals in the CSUV segment which are pretty damn good right now, but I don’t see sales of the Creta slowing down anytime soon. 

That explains why the Hyundai India management was not scared of rivals overtaking them last year. But 2027 could be a very different scene altogether, and maybe the mythical ‘Creta Killer’ will finally emerge. It could be the fact that buyers want ever-larger cars—the new Kia Seltos being a case in point. The Renault Duster, the vehicle that ‘created’ this segment and still has strong brand recall, goes on sale by April. And it could be new drivetrains—both the Seltos and Duster will feature new Hybrid systems later this year.

Or it could continue to remain a myth.

Kushan Mitra is an automotive journalist based in New Delhi. He tweets @kushanmitra. Views are personal.

(Edited by Saptak Datta)