Hero vs Honda Rivalry – The Closest Honda has Got to Hero in Last 3 Years

Hero vs Honda sales – We notice a very interesting trend in the last year’s sales. So, will it continue over to this fiscal as well…?

India Inc’s 2-wheeler industry has completely been in shatters in the last 16-17 months. Auto makers believe that, apart from the the falling economy, the biggest reason has been the continuous regulations that have been forced on them. This has resulted in a massive spike in prices of 2-wheelers. Rajiv Bajaj, head of Bajaj Auto, says that 2-wheelers have become costlier by whopping 30 percent in the last 1.5-2 years.

These two things – lack of buying sentiments and massive increase in prices can not go hand in hand. As a result, with the exception of Suzuki, each and every maker reported colossal degrowth in their yearly numbers for last financial year. You can read those numbers here.

Hero and Honda were two erstwhile partners and Honda walked away from this joint venture because it believed it can control the market alone. Since the split, there has been a bitter rivalry between the two big ‘H’s of the industry. However, even after many years of running the show alone, Hero MotoCorp has managed to hold onto its pole position and by a significant margin. But there is an interesting trend that has developed in the last few years. We are listing the sales numbers for both the makers for the last three years below..

Hero vs Honda Sales – FY20

YearHero MotoCorpHondaDifference
2017-1873,82,71857,75,28716,07,431
2018-1976,12,77555,20,61720,92,158
2019-2062,31,45847,06,58915,24,869
Hero vs Honda sales
Hero has announced new premium products like the upcoming Xtreme 160R. Click pic for details

Few quick pointers

  • Hero registered a growth of 3.12 percent in FY19 followed by a big degrowth of 18.14 percent last year.
  • On the other hand, Honda has reported continuous degrowth in the last two financial years – 4.41 percent and 14.75 percent respectively.
  • However, Honda’s FY20 loss is 3.39 percent lesser than Hero in last year’s numbers.

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Now, let us present the yearly differences between these two manufacturers…

YearDifference
FY1816,07,431
FY1920,92,158
FY2015,24,869

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Now, as you can see, the difference between the two makers has closed to about 15.25 lakh units in the last fiscal from almost 21 lakh units in the preceding year. This is the closest Honda has got to Hero in the last three years.

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Another interesting pointer to note is that the overall reduction in sales has been beneficial for Honda. The question now is – with this year’s numbers feared to fall to record levels, will it prove beneficial for Honda and can it inch closer to its traditional arch-rival?