Two wheeler Sales report for February 2016
Hero MotoCorp, India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, has reported sales of 550,992 units in February, marking a healthy growth of 13.66 percent (February 2015: 484,769). The company says it managed the production of as many units at its Gurgaon, Dharuhera (Haryana) and Neemrana (Rajasthan) plants despite the recent local agitation which disrupted life in the region.
“The company made up for the lost days when despatches from these plants were affected due to the blockade of the national highways and other roads,” mentions the company release.
Launching its new family scooter model under phases, Hero MotoCorp rolled out the Duet in eastern India, which helped it record increased sales of this model last month. The company says the Duet, along with the Maestro Edge, has received a positive response in many local markets, helping consolidate its position in the local scooter market.
According to industry statistics, Hero MotoCorp sold 48,002 units and 24,239 units of the Maestro and Duet models respectively in January 2016 as both these models featured in the top four bestselling scooters for the month across domestic markets.
Hero’s third scooter model, the Pleasure, which is targeted at young female riders, registered sales of 14,408 units in January.
The company plans to launch its first in-house developed motorcycle – the Splendor iSmart 110 – which was displayed at the 2016 Auto Expo along with the Xtreme 200S, Duet electric scooter concept and a street-naked motorcycle concept, XF3R.
The all-new Xtreme 200S, which will be powered by an in-house developed single-cylinder, 200cc engine, is expected to come in 2017.
Reporting mild growth of 2 percent YoY,
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) has registered total sales of 369,227 units in February 2016, up 6.15% YoY (February 2015: 347,806). Of this, total domestic scooter sales comprised 229,332 units, which, according to the company, have grown by 10 percent YoY.
On the cumulative front, the company has recorded total sales of 41,01,932 units between April 2015-February 2016, which marks an overall YoY growth of 1 percent inching closer to the 4.5 million unit sales mark for the ongoing fiscal.
Of this number, total scooter sales for the 11-month period in the ongoing fiscal stood at 25,44,757 units, which, the company says, has registered 12 percent YoY growth. According to HMSI, it has maintained its domestic market share of 26 percent consistently through the 11-month period.
The company has also received close to 900 bookings of its recently launched NAVI model(s). The deliveries for this crossover, which is manufactured at the Tapukara, Rajasthan plant, will begin in April 2016. Meanwhile, HMSI has started operations at its fourth plant in India, in Gujarat. A company release mentions that operations at the scooter-only plant are being ramped up on a daily basis. HMSI is yet to announce an official timeline for the start of local assembly operations of its globally popular twin-cylinder, 998cc adventure-touring motorcycle, Africa Twin.
TVS Motor Company has reported a growth of 11.36% YoY for its total domestic two-wheeler sales of 183,199 units (February 2015: 164,508). Of this, 67,089 units comprised scooters (including exports), indicative of a growth of 18.2 percent YoY (February 2015: 56,750 units). The motorcycle portfolio sold 77,093 units including exports, and recorded a jump of 3.8 percent YoY (February 2015: 74,292 units).
The latest addition in the Apache series, the oil-cooled, single-cylinder, 198cc Apache RTR 200 4V, is said to have been receiving a positive response from customers. The Apache series (now with four variants – RTR 200 4V, RTR 180 ABS, RTR 180 and RTR 160 – on offer), which sold a total of 20,858 units in January 2016, accounts for close to 25 percent of overall motorcycle sales for the company.
India Yamaha Motor registered total domestic sales of 56,960 units in February, marking a healthy growth of 49.97 percent YoY (February 2015: 37,982). The rollout of new products like the 113cc Fascino, new colour variants of the 150cc YZF-R15 version 2.0, 150cc SZ-RR version 2.0, 125cc Saluto and twin-cylinder, 321cc YZF-R3 have kept up the sales momentum for the company during the ongoing fiscal.
According to Roy Kurian, vice-president – sales & marketing, Yamaha Motor India Sales, “This consecutive growth of 50 percent in February too, is a result of Yamaha’s innovative customer contact programs and increasing reach. At Auto Expo 2016, there was a massive customer response to the new Ray Z-R scooter and MT-09 superbike."
Talking to Autocar Professional, Kurian had mentioned that the company expects the Ray ZR to fetch sales of close to 10,000 units per month. While this will push scooter sales on one hand, the company is looking at expanding its dealership network to 650-700 by end-2016 from 500 in 2015.
Meanwhile, Yamaha is learnt to have discontinued its motorcycles in the 100cc-110cc category, and the base variants of its FZ and Fazer models.
Source:
INDIA SALES ANALYSIS: FEBRUARY 2016