Honda Motorcycles beats Bajaj Auto, TVS Motors as sales soar in April-August period

Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI), the country’s largest scooter manufacturer, has managed to increase its market share in the motorcycle segment to 17% in the April-August period of the current fiscal, compared with 13% in the corresponding period last year.

As a result the Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer has overtaken Bajaj Auto and TVS Motors in motorcycle sales to grab the second spot in terms of unit sales in states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. During April-July, Bajaj Auto’s market share in motorcycles declined to 14.41% from 18.78% during the same period of last year.

According to Yadvinder Singh Guleria, senior vice-president, sales and marketing (HMSI), in markets where motorcycle sales are traditionally high, HMSI has gained market share. For instance, it gained 6% market share in UP, 5% in Bihar and a whopping 20% in Maharashtra during the April-August period. “We have gained market share in some of the states and have increased our overall market share to 17% this year. About 70% of our new touchpoints are in the rural market and we expect to grow our motorcycle volumes significantly this year,” Guleria added.

In order to attract buyers in the rural and semi-urban market during the festive period, the company is also offering Rs 2,000 discount for all Central and state government employees. With good rainfall across the country and demand revival in the rural markets, the overall volumes in the motorcycles segment are expected to increase around 10% this fiscal as against 3.6% in FY17.

As a result, the company is trying to expand its network in the semi-urban and rural markets and almost 70% of the new touchpoints will be in the rural market. In the current fiscal, HMSI has already opened 250 new touchpoints and before Diwali it will be expanded by another 50 touchpoints.

In the April-July period the volumes of Honda’s CB Shine increased by 25% y-o-y to 3,38,236 units and the same for Unicorn increased by 90% to 78,468 units. Volumes of economy segment offering Livo also increased by 7% y-o-y to 92,205 units. Volumes of another motorcycle decline by 11.27% y-o-y to 98,192 units during the same period.

Both scooter and motorcycles put together, HMSI is expecting a 20% increase in its volumes in the upcoming festive season compared with the same period last year. After the commissioning of the new scooter-only plant in Gujarat, HMSI has been relieved of any supply constraint during the festive months. Currently, 65% of the total volumes come from scooters, while 35% is being contributed by the motorcycle segment.

“In the last festive season our volumes grew by 20% and we are expecting a similar kind of growth this year as well. Usually our dealers have an inventory of 30 days while now it is around 45 days. We usually operate on a cash-and-carry model and unless our dealers have faith in our products, they will never take so much of inventory,” Guleria said.

For its prospective customers in the upcoming Navratri and Diwali season, HMSI is offering discounts of `5,500 through its exclusive retail finance schemes with no processing fees and other benefits.

Also, in its Best Deal outlets, the company is offering `1,000 off on exchange of old vehicles.