New Karizma sales are much better than the 2014 debacle but are they good enough? Let me list the month-wise numbers for the sportster…
Hero Honda Karizma was a legendary motorcycle and when it was launched around 2003, it gave us first taste of big bike looks and performance in the 4-stroke arena. Gradually, the company branched out another full-faired variant Karizma ZMR on the same platform.
Around this time the joint venture between Hero and Honda started shaking and eventually both the brands broke up. Around 2014, Hero took matters in its own hands and introduced its own versions of the Karizmas which broke the brand completely. Both the motorcycles received so much flak that sales were limited to double digits only. This led to the demise of the Karizma from the Indian market.
However, Hero understands that Karizma name still holds a lot of respect in the hearts of bikers and it re-introduced the Karizma – in a completely new avatar – on a new platform. It promised a lot and was offered at a fairly good price tag as well. It has been roughly eight months since the company dispatches started, so let us see how is the motorcycle doing in its new-gen avatar.
Karizma Sales
| Month | Sale |
| Sep + Oct | 311 |
| Nov | 895 |
| Dec | 1747 |
| January 2024 | 1266 |
| February | 2128 |
| March | 1874 |
| April | 947 |
So, as you can see, Karizma has amassed total sales of 9168 units in the first eight months of its existence (seven months, if we discount the first month). This gives the motorcycle an average of just over 1300 unit sales every month. If we look at the pattern, numbers have been increasing consistently – with a fall recorded just at the start of the new financial year.
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These numbers are simply great if directly compared with the 2014 Karizmas and fairly good for a motorcycle costing roughly Rs 2 Lakh. It appears, the Karizma may settle somewhere between 1000 and 1500 units in the future.
This also means that the motorcycle has amassed a revenue of roughly Rs 165 crore so far or is doing 23 crores monthly. On the sidelines, 28 percent or roughly 46 crores (out of the total revenue of 165 crore) will go to the government – as ironically, two-wheelers are considered as luxury or sin and taxed at the highest GST slab in India. In simple words, out of the 1.80 Lakh you pay for the Karizma as the ex-showroom price, roughly Rs 40,000 is the GST that goes to the govt per motorcycle (and the original cost is just Rs ~1.40 Lakh) and we aren’t even talking about other taxes and insurance!
Coming back – how would you rate the sales performance of the Karizma? Bad, Good, Average?
