February Two-wheeler Sales Report: Royal Enfield, Bajaj, Honda And More

While Royal Enfield’s domestic sales witnessed an upswing, Bajaj, Hero and shone in terms of exports

• Royal Enfield’s domestic sales saw a growth of two per cent compared to February 2019. 
• Bajaj and TVS saw a drop in domestic sales but grew in export sales. 
• Hero's total scooter sales dipped by 67.5 per cent compared to February 2019. 

Two-wheeler sales reports for the month of February have started coming in and there is some good and bad news for Royal Enfield. While its domestic sales witnessed a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 1.9 per cent, its exports fell by 8.4 per cent. 

With Royal Enfield switching to BS6 norms, the company appears to be restructuring its motorcycle lineup. The Bullet 500, Classic 500, Trials 350/500 and Thunderbird 500 appear to have been discontinued. The new Royal Enfield BS6 lineup consists of the Himalayan, Bullet 350, Bullet 350 ES, Classic 350 single-channel ABS, Classic 350 dual-channel ABS, Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650. The company is also working on a new J platform which could form the base for a slew of new bikes including the Meteor, which is expected to be launched later this year. 

Bajaj: 

While Bajaj saw a hefty February drop of 21 per cent in domestic sales compared to last year, it grew by 15 per cent in the two-wheeler export sector. Since the past few months, Bajaj has exported more two-wheelers than what it sells in India. In fact, last month Bajaj exported 16,470 more two-wheelers than what it sold here. A majority of Bajaj’s two-wheeler exports go to African and South American markets. Bajaj is all set to launch its BS6 lineup in India. You can check out their prices here. Bajaj will also launch the smaller Dominar 250 this month. 

TVS:

Like Bajaj, TVS too saw its domestic two-wheeler sales drop by 26.7 per cent compared to February last year. However, its exports rose by 18 per cent. It appears that its scooter sales have been the most hit. Out of the total (domestic and export) units sold in February, TVS’ motorcycle sales dropped by 3 per cent while scooter sales saw a drop of 30 per cent!

Even in the scooter segment, the Suzuki Access 125 managed to outsell the 110cc TVS Jupiter in January 2020. TVS attributes part of this dip in sales to it reducing BS4 stock at the dealer level and also the recent Coronavirus impacting its supply chain for certain components needed for its BS6 vehicles. 

Hero MotoCorp:

February saw Hero’s exports grow by 8 per cent YoY while domestic sales dropped by 20 per cent. Like TVS, Hero’s scooter sales saw a big hit. In February, Hero’s total scooter sales saw a massive YoY drop of 67.5 per cent while motorcycle sales saw a dip of 14.2 percent. The Hero HF Deluxe has been consistently outselling the Hero Splendor since the past 3 months. According to the bikemaker, the ongoing Coronavirus has affected production at Hero MotoCorp’s manufacturing facilities. Hero stopped manufacturing its BS4 two-wheelers in February itself. Last month, it introduced five new BS6 products: Splendor+, Super Splendor, Glamour, Passion Pro, Maestro Edge 125 and Destini 125. Hero will also be launching the all-new Xtreme 160R soon. 

Honda: 

Honda sold 3,15,271 two-wheelers in the month of February, a drop of 22.8 percent compared to February 2019. The company exported 26,736 two-wheelers in the month of February. Honda has steadily been updating its BS6 portfolio. It has already launched the Activa 6G, Dio BS6, Activa 125 BS6, Shine BS6, Unicorn BS6 and SP 125. It has already sold over 3 lakh BS6 models.