Hero 200cc motorcycle sales in the first half of this financial year would be big time concerning for the brand as it is falling despite massive push…
After its split with Honda, the first thing that Hero MotoCorp (the new entity that was created) rightfully did was to safeguard its bread and butter models – Splendor and others. After meeting all the regulations and ensuring they continue to sell in high numbers, the focus then shifted to the premium segment – where Hero was a big laggard, despite being the numero uno in terms of overall volumes in India.
With a massive push towards premiumization, Hero went onto showcase some out-of-reach concepts in 2014 and 2016 Auto Expos. It, in fact, showed Hastur – which was a near 600cc street naked boasting of some insane feature and specs. There were other models like HX250R, XF3R and even a 150cc diesel scooter RNT, however, nothing made it to production.
Hero was trying to take baby steps and it tried to resurrect its 200cc motorcycle range and the Xpulse 200 started to give it the much needed traction. Ever since then Hero has been updating its 200cc motorcycle range with small but important and usable features and then recently it also re-introduced the Karizma brand.
Initially, it felt like Hero will eventually start doing well in the premium motorcycle space, but for some reason, things are just not working for the Indian major. Here are the sales numbers…
Hero 200cc Motorcycle Sales (Including Xtreme 160R)
Apr-Sep 2022-23 | Apr-Sep 2023-24 |
47,167 units | 33,972 units |
In the first half of this fiscal, Hero has dropped by over 13,000 units which is lesser by almost 28 percent! This means that it sold only about 5600 units on an average every month combined (including 4 motorcycles Xtreme 160R, Xtreme 200S, Xpulse 200T and Xpulse 200) during this period.
Will Hero’s X440-Based Motorcycle be Called HURIKAN 440?
With a smaller base, Hero should in fact be doing at least double digit growth, but the actual numbers are still not in its favor. It must be noted that it is already the lowest seller in this 150-200cc space – just over Suzuki Motorcycles among all the key makers in the country.
Will the partnership with Harley and the near 400cc motorcycle that has been confirmed by Hero for this year, save it? Will the newly introduced Karizma come to the rescue?
But the question still remains – with four different motorcycles – all targeting different customer sets at attractive price points – why aren’t people buying Heros?