As the festive season completed last month, HMSI has again sold more number of two wheeler compared to Bajaj Auto in the single month. As per an estimate, HMSI has sold 2,05,000 units in the domestic two wheeler market compared to 1,98,000 units of Bajaj Auto in the month of December 2012. This is the first time the difference of number of two wheeler has remained under 10,000 units after the month of June 2012. December is generally considered as a soft month for automobile companies and especially for Bajaj Auto.
HMSI sold 2,17,612 units of two wheeler in the month of December 2012 which is 13.59% higher compared to December 2011 where it sold 1,91,584 units of two wheeler. It sold 1,06,297 units of motorcycle in the month of December 2012 up by 35.03% compared to 78,271 units of motorcycle in the month of December 2011. It sold 1,11,315 units of scooter in December 2012 down by 1.37% compared to 1,12,863 units of scooter in the month of December 2011. HMSI is witnessing falling sales each month in the scooter segment due to increased competition from Hero Motocorp and Yamaha’s newly launched Ray.
Bajaj Auto sold 2,98,350 units of motorcycle in the month of December 2012 up by 13.14% compared to 2,63,699 units in the month of December 2011. In the domestic market the company has registered double digit growth for the first time after a long period. The company has launched new 100cc motorcycle Discover 100T in the month of January to boost its domestic sales.
Bajaj Vs Honda in 2012 – April to December
HMSI sold 19.34 lakhs units during April to December 2012 compared to 19.08 lakhs units of Bajaj Auto for the same period in the domestic market. HMSI has maintained the lead of around 26,000 units in the year till date figure. As expected earlier, there is not much difference of two wheeler units in the month of December between Bajaj Auto and HMSI. We expect a close fight between Bajaj Auto and HMSI from this month and we also believe that Bajaj Auto has still fair chance to outpace HMSI for the financial year 2012-13. Stay tuned for the next three months.
-Mahavir Kothari
Note: HMSI did not publish the breakdown of domestic and export of total sales, hence we have estimated domestic and export breakout for the month of December 2012.
