TVS Pips Honda Sales Numbers For February: Here’s What Happened, And What It Means

High time for Honda to introspect…

TVS Motors just beat Honda in terms of outright sales, with 276,150 units sold in February 2023, quite a gap from Honda’s total number, which stood at 247,175. Now, though TVS’ performance shows a slight downturn, as the sales numbers for Feb ‘22 (281,714 units sold) were a bit higher, what’s surprising is that it was still able to beat Honda, a manufacturer with multiple products among the top sellers’ list. 

For reference, the Honda Activa, despite its lack of features and high price, has been a consistent bestseller for years. In fact, even in January 2023, as per Society Of Indian Automotive Manufacturers (SIAM), Honda sold a whopping 1,30,001 Activas, more than double that of the TVS Jupiter 110. 

Similarly, among the motorcycles sold in January 2023, the Honda Shine took the lion’s share, bagging 99,878 sales. Yes, it might be less than half the numbers of the Hero Splendor Plus (which, incidentally, has a Honda-derived engine, too), but it’s more than triple that of the TVS Raider, which sold 27,233 units.

But moving now to the 150 to 200cc sales figures, and TVS takes the lead with the Apache lineup bagging 28,811 units in January 2023, ahead of the Honda Unicorn, coming in second overall with 22,019 units. 

And moving beyond this sees Honda sales take a beating due to the high price and hence low value for money. For instance, the Honda CB300R, despite being costlier than the TVS Apache RR 310, sports very few features. Moreover, Honda also has in place the 200cc cap, beyond which its lineup moves to the exclusive BigWing dealerships, which are in only a few Tier 2 cities.

But that’s not all. Honda also seems to be oblivious to customer needs. TVS has the Radeon for the everyday commuter, the Raider for the sporty city slicker, the Apache series for everyone from the weekend joyrider to the serious track junkie. It even has the market cornered in the sporty scooter space, with the NTorq 125. Meanwhile, Honda’s only premium offering, save for the BigWing bikes, is the lacklustre Hornet 2.0. 

Summing up, we believe that Honda should take a long, hard look at its India strategy and primarily do two things: First, it should introduce products like the the racy CBR150R or the classically styled Rebel 300, among many more, from its global lineup. This will go a long way in cementing a reputation as a manufacturer not averse to taking risks. Secondly, it should consider a uniform reduction to its pricing strategy. Otherwise it could very well continue playing second fiddle to more proactive bikemakers like TVS.