Second-Gen Kia Seltos Vs Tata Sierra: Sales Report Card After 2 Months
The new Tata Sierra and the second-generation Seltos are having a fierce fight with each other in sales. Both SUVs have exhibited strong momentum in the first two months of 2026. The Seltos outsold the Sierra in both months. 20,947 units of the Seltos and 14,103 Sierras were sold during the period.
Kia launched the second-generation Seltos in India in January this year. Deliveries began soon after. The company recorded wholesales of 10,639 units in the first month. This was 6,270 units more than the December 2025 numbers, clearly reflecting the facelift’s effect. The Sierra numbers stood at 7003 units.
In February, Kia sold 10,308 units of the Seltos while Tata Motors recorded sales of 7100 Sierras. The sales gap between these in January and February were 3636 and 3208 respectively. The Seltos seems to enjoy a clear edge over the Tata in the first two months of 2026.
The Seltos outselling the Sierra doesn’t really mean a relatively lower demand for the Tata SUV. The ‘supply’ is the real problem here. The Sierra is currently plagued by various production constraints. Tata Motors manufactures it at its Sanand facility. The upcoming Sierra.EV will also be manufactured here.
At its launch, the new Tata Sierra received an overwhelming response. On the day when the booking portal went live, it got over 70,000 confirmed bookings within the first 24 hours. The exact booking count of the SUV at the time of writing, remains unclear. It should be over a lakh. Even as the order pipeline continues to grow, just a few thousand units have reached their owners.
Supply chain challenges and related production constraints have been limiting the carmaker’s ability to commence more deliveries at a sustainable pace.
According to reports, Tata Motors currently (early 2026) produces around 8000 Sierras a month. In other words, 96000 units annually. The production is being ramped up in a phased manner, to meet heightened consumer demands.
Tata Motors reportedly has plans to achieve a monthly production capacity of 15000 units for the Sierra, by March this year. This will increase the annual capacity to around 1.8 lakh units. That will be a healthy number for a model so sought after.
The Sanand plant has an installed capacity of 3.3 lakh units. Now, a large share of this capacity is occupied by the Nexon, the best-selling Tata model. When the production ramps up, the Sierra will account for nearly half of the plant’s total annual output. Having to share production lines with a high-volume model like the Nexon is likely affecting the Sierra’s production numbers. The carmaker may take its sweet time to find the perfect balance capacity between the two.
Tata’s leadership has also admitted that the company is facing supplier bottlenecks, Component suppliers, especially Tier-1 to Tier 3, are reportedly facing capacity shortages due to the general boom in the automotive manufacturing industry. In recent years, industry volumes have reached approximately 4.5 lakh units per month, putting severe pressure on parts suppliers. Casting, powertrain components, and some key structural parts are said to be the most affected.
The massive initial demand that the Sierra created and the production constraints mentioned above, have led to a steep spike in waiting period. In many cities, some variants already command waiting periods of over 7 months. This is expected to come down as the production is ramped up.