The month of August was truly the best month for Indian two wheeler industry as all the companies witnessed good growth defying the scares of recession. Read on for the exact figures and what is lined up in each company’s stables.
Hero Honda: Riding high, the World’s largest two wheeler manufacturers for eight consecutive years, Hero Honda seems to be in a tune of their own. The company reported an increase of 35.88 percent in sales in August 2009 selling a massive 415,137 units as compared to 305,516 units sold in August last year.
This is the first time in the history of any two wheeler company in the world that a single company has managed to sell more than 4 lakh units in a single month. Compare this with 366,808, the number of two wheelers sold by Hero Honda in the last month. Clear depiction of a company on a total rampage!
With some new additions and upgrades lined up in the near future, we see these figures only rising to new highs. Recently Hero Honda launched the most awaited upgrade of the decade, the all new Karizma ZMR PGM-Fi with an ex showroom price of 91,000 in Delhi. 150cc Hunk is also set for a little cosmetic makeover and we expect changes to the existing 100ccs as well.
Bajaj Auto: This is the first month this year in which Bajaj has managed to extract positive change in its figures per month. They sold 183,051 two wheelers which consisted of 182,441 motorcycles where the earlier August sales figures stood at 176,631 total two wheelers consisting of 175,274 bikes. This figure is 4 percent increase than the last Augusts figure. Bajaj also saw an increase in their 3 wheeler sales which rose 23 percent to 30,021 from 24,324 last year in August. Merging these figures, Bajaj managed to sell 6 percent more than what it sold during the same period last year. The good part is the fact that even the exports were at an all time high and rose 6 percent to 75,164 units from 71,105 units in August 2008.
These astounding figures were attributed to the newly launched Discover DTSi by Rajiv Bajaj as the bike single handedly sold 48000 units in its very launch month. In Orissa state alone the bike sold more than a thousand units. Along with Pulsars, Discover came out as a strong brand for Bajaj selling 65,000 units in total which includes the figures of both Discover DTSi and its bigger and more powerful cousin Discover 135. Firming up further plans, Bajaj has chalked out a policy for the forthcoming couple of months. Bajaj intends to increase the Discover sales to 160,000 units in turn planning to sell 500,000 motorcycles in the coming September and October 2009 and are well on plan. Recent advances have also given us a leaked information that the Kawasaki Ninja 250R is about to be launched very soon.
TVS Motors: Countries third largest manufacturer by volumes, Chennai based TVS Motors also saw an impressive 11 percent growth in their total sales this month. The company sold 126,842 units against 114,321 sold during the same time last year. Domestic sales saw an even impressive 20 percent increase at 115,095 units against 96,238 two wheeler units sold in August 2008. Bikes contributed the major chunk of sale selling 51,127 units which were a little less when compared to 52,304 units that the company managed to sell during the last August. On the other hand scooters saw an upsurge in sales boasting an increase of 13 percent selling 28,582 units as compared to 25,392 sold during the same month last year. Exports also continue to witness a fall for consecutive months and stood at 11,747 units as against the 18,083 units TVS sold during August 2008. Cumulative sales in the period of April to August 2009 saw a growth of healthy 5 percent whereas the cumulative domestic sales saw an even impressive 10 percent growth.
The market has received companies performance bike Apache RTR 180 and the premium executive segment 125cc, Flame SR 125 pretty well and the recently launched Scooty Streak is also selling in rich numbers all over India despite a stiff competition from Honda India.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI): HMSI, the fully owned wing of Honda Japan also registered impressive growth of 13.82 percent in its sales in Indian for the month of August 2009. The company sold 96,149 units of two wheelers against the 84,476 it sold in August 2008. As usual the major contributor was scooters at 59,041 units which went up from 54,022 units which they sold in August 2008. Motorcycle sales also saw an upsurge with the total sales standing at 37,108 units as compared to 30,454 sold during the same month last year. After witnessing these figures it makes sure that Honda is strengthening its tight hold on India with both of its arms, HMSI and Hero Honda.
The company is also increasing the production capacity of its Manesar plant from the current 1.07 million units to 1.5 million units per annum by the middle of 2010. The Indian based arm of the Japanese major is also planning to invest Rs 300 crore over the next three years towards new range of launches and expansion activities in the future. A major chunk of this money would also be spent on its R&D activities in India and upgrading its two wheelers to enable them to comply with the Bharat Stage 3 norms. The company has already invested Rs 900 crore in India since its inception in 2001. Future launches planned by these top honchos are a premium 100cc bike which they plan to launch during early 2010 and a monstrous 250cc by 2011.
Yamaha India: The name synonymous with performance biking, Yamaha India also managed to accumulate an extremely healthy growth of 63 percent in its sales during August 2009 which stood at 19,508 units compared to a meager 11,974 units they sold in August 2008. The company has received a tremendous response to all the latest launches of the likes of FZ, Fazer and R15. The recent member of the FZ family, Fazer alone has bookings of over 12,000 units in India. The company plans to increase its current market share of 2.7 percent in India to 10 percent by 2012 and if they go at this pace we expect them to beat that! Recently they launched limited edition of their Fazer and FZ S which have taken the market dynamics to an all new level.
Suzuki India:
The Indian arm of the Japanese major SMIL (Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt. Ltd) also witnessed a good run logging a 17.68 percent increase of its two wheeler sales which stood at 13,030 units as against 11,072 units it sold during the same month last year. For the past few months since its launch in India, the 150cc GS150R has been the driver of sales for them. The company is expected to be slow and steady in its approach here in India for some time as it’s relatively new in India and is strengthening its penetration in the markets enhancing its sales and service stations all across the country.
All in all, this month was one of the best months for the industry and with the forthcoming festive season and a plethora of fantastic launches scheduled to release, the figures might only see and upswing.
