Motorcycles to Witness Decline in Sales During 2016?

Experts believe that Indian market may face low motorcycle sales till the half of 2016. This drop in motorcycle sales is due to change in monsoon. As stated by Hero MotoCorp, half of country’s motorcycle sales depends on the rural economy and due to change in monsoon the rural economy would go down and this can affect the sales of motorcycles. However, sales of scooters increased by 11.4 percent compared to the sales of motorcycles which was 2.5 percent.

Reported by an online daily, Abdul Majeed, an auto expert said that normal rainfall might give a push to the sales and we  can expect a growth of 2-3 percent . An official from Hero MotoCorp. stated, “The current sluggishness is reflective of the overall sentiment in rural markets, on account of consecutive sub-normal monsoons, moderate growth in rural wages and in minimum support prices. The industry expects motorcycles to remain subdued at least for a couple of quarters. If we have a good monsoon and sentiments change in the rural market, then the motorcycle market might see a positive turnaround in the second half of the next financial year.”

The entry level motorcycles had witnessed a drop in sales in second half of 2015. Of these bikes up to 110cc engine capacity which are responsible for 60 percent market had faced decline of almost 6 percent i.e. 5.06 million units. Royal Enfield being the leader has done well in 250-350 cc segment that has shown a growth of 55 percent, also bikes of higher displacement category did not face a decline sales and performed well. Consumers in urban area opted for these machines and a growth of 5 percent was seen in the 110-125 cc displacement category, a little improvement than the previous record. Y.S guleria, senior vice-president (sales and marketing), Honda said, “We see motorcycles remaining stressed due to the rural economy. The major contribution to motorcycles comes from the 100-110cc segment. This is the worst hit, as it depends largely on rural market. We don't see any immediate recovery in footfalls and interest. The next important event will be monsoon. If normal rainfall happens, rural demand will go up.”  He further added, “We were able to read the rural trend early and our product line-up in 2015 was primarily developed keeping in mind the urban and semi-urban market.”

Market of Scooters has gone up to 30 percent in 2015 from 27 percent in 2014, as a total of 16-million units being sold in the previous year. Talking about motorcycles, a downfall of 65 percent in number of sales was recorded in 2015 as compared to the 68 percent in 2014.