Tata Motors is now the third-largest passenger vehicle seller in India, surpasses M&M

Riding on Tiago’s back, Tata Motors grabbed a small lead over Mahindra & Mahindra and is the third-largest passenger vehicle seller in India.

"The new model Tiago has been well received by customers both in urban and rural markets. Moreover, vehicles with a waiting period have not impacted due to the high denomination currency ban since customers paid advances prior to booking the vehicles. This has helped Tata Motors," Abdul Majeed, Partner at Pricewaterhouse, told ET.

Tata Motors sold 12,736 units in November compared with 12,707 units sold by Mahindra & Mahindra in the same period, according to the sales data received from industry sources.

The lead however, is slim but analysts expect Tata Motors to maintain the advantage.

The largest selling vehicles from Mahindra - Scorpio and Bolero's - saw a sales decline of 41 per cent and 42 per cent, respectively, in November on a month-on-month basis. Mahindra sold 3,099 units of Scorpio while 5,257 units of Bolero were sold last month.

What's more, for the fourth consecutive month, Mahindra lost the country's largest utility vehicle seller status to Maruti Suzuki India in November.