Sales Report: Royal Enfield and Honda Register Decent Growth; Hero, TVS and Bajaj Struggle

Here's our combined sales watch for the February 2017 period as the Indian motorcycle moves into recovery mode

The cash crunch which was the direct result of demonetization had its fair amount of effects on the auto sector. As an upshot automobile manufacturers across the nation saw a steep decline in their sales numbers in December 2016 and the first month of 2017. However, going into recovery mode, the market is now coming back at a steady pace as we can see in the latest sales figures released by various bike manufacturers. The following consolidated report puts forth numbers registered in February 2017 against those of the corresponding month of 2016.

Bajaj Auto: The Chakan-based bike manufacturer registered a sale of 1,42,287 bikes in the previous month against that of 1,51,141 units in February 2016. Bajaj registered a negative difference of 8 per cent over the corresponding month last year in the domestic market. The export sales, however, served as a silver lining for Bajaj as it registered a commendable 22 per cent of growth. Speaking of its combined (domestic+export) sales results, the company registered a net positive growth of 4 per cent.

TVS Motor Company: It has registered steady growth in the scooter and moped segment along with its exports. However, the same can’t be said for its motorcycle sales. As opposed to the sales of 77,093 units in the February 2016, TVS only sold 58,994 motorcycles in February 2017. The combined sales of its two-wheelers and three-wheelers stood at 2,06,247 units for the February 2017 window, as opposed 2,11,148 vehicles in February 2016.

Royal Enfield: India’s popular cruiser bike manufacturer, Royal Enfield, against all odds, has registered a growth of 19 per cent in February 2017 compared to the same month in 2016. The Chennai-based manufacturer saw 58,439 bikes leaving its showroom doors last month as opposed to 49,156 units in February 2016.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India: Unlike other manufacturers, Honda seems to have dodged the consequences of demonetization in an effective manner. The company registered a domestic growth of 5 per cent with 3,69,865 units in February 2017, up from 3,51,401 vehicles in the corresponding month last year. Thanks to this and the exports, HMSI has registered 13 per cent overall growth, which is more than 2.5 times the industry growth!

Honda still leads the scooter segment with the Activa being its best-seller, whereas in the motorcycle segment the Shine SP has entered the top five bestselling bikes’ list.

Yamaha: Another manufacturer that seemed unaffected by cash crush was Yamaha. It registered a 20 per cent domestic growth with India and Nepal combined. The Japanese retailed a total of 68,095 units in February 2017, which was just 56,960 units in February 2016.

Hero MotoCorp: Last but not the least, the world’s largest manufacturer still leads the two wheeler segment in the country and has recovered drastically from its January 2017 figures. However, the February 2017 numbers are still 4.76 per cent down compared to February 2016’s count. Sales have gone from 5,50,992 units in Feb 2016 to 5,24,766 units the previous month.