In the midst of the festive celebration of the colorful Auto Expo 2010, brought to you live by BikeAdvice.in, we bring in our regular article on the monthly sales figures of our Indian two wheeler manufacturers. Broadly speaking, sales have been on a constant rise after the black clouds of recession and every company is looking forward hoping for the best. So let’s see how our manufacturers did in the last month of the bygone year.
HERO HONDA: Well, there is no hiding from the fact that, Hero Honda has been constantly ranking the biggest selling automobile company in the world for the past eight years and the lead simply seems to be growing bigger. December 2009 saw Hero Honda an upsurge of an unprecedentedly massive 74 percent. The company sold 3,75,838 units as compared to 2,15,931 units sold during the corresponding month last year. Recently Hero Honda launched the much awaited upgraded version of their premium 223cc Karizma, named Karizma ZMR with PGMFi and a host of other features. Hero Honda is expected to concentrate on the entry level 100cc segment in the times to come.
BAJAJ AUTO: Countries second largest two wheeler manufacturer, Pune based Bajaj Auto, recorded a remarkable increase of 86 percent in December 2009. Bajaj Auto sold 2,19,920 motorcycles as compared to the meager 1,18,510 motorcycles it sold in December 2008. Total two wheelers sale stood at 2,20,429 units as compared to 1,19,215 units sold during the corresponding month of 2008 registering an increase of 85 percent. Bajaj also registered an impressive 26 percent increase in the number of units it exported. Total exports stood at 91, 369 units as compared to 72,744 units exported in December 2008.
Bajaj has been concentrating more on the Pulsar and Discover brands of late because of the profit margins they provide along with the brand premium they command over other brands. They sold 86,769 Discovers (which includes Discover 135 and Discover 100) and 44,518 Pulsars which included Pulsar 150, Pulsar 180, Pulsar 220 and the recently launched Pulsar 135 LS. Bajaj launched the smallest Pulsar (Pulsar 135 LS) in December which is expected to take the company’s sales to a million units per year. Bajaj is all set to launch the streetfighter (non- faired) version of their premium bike in India (Pulsar 220 DTSI F) which would be named as Pulsar 220 DTSi S at a reduced price.
TVS MOTOR: Indias third largest manufacturer, Chennai based TVS Motors, also had an impressive time at the sales tally. TVS recorded an increase of 34 percent in December 2009 registering total two wheeler sales of 1,19,701 units against 89,285 units they managed to sell in December 2008. Domestic sales of the company increased by 42 percent with the firm recording 1,02,479 units compared to 72,355 units in the last December. Motorcycles, which have been the major contributors for TVS Motors of late, also witnessed 24 percent growth in sales registering 49,560 units this month as against 40,057 units sold in December 2008. Scooter sales also saw an upsurge of 45 percent selling 21,566 units against 14,912 sold in corresponding December last year.
After a continues negative trend shown by exports, TVS managed to register a marginal 2 percent increase registering 17,222 two wheelers as compared to 16,930 units it managed to export in December 2008. TVS recently launched a 125cc scooter, Wego and an innovative clutchless bike Jive which would be launched all over India in the times to come. TVS is also expected to launch a sub 200cc bike in the near future along with an upgrade to its existing Apaches.
YAMAHA INDIA: Yamaha, which have been showing positive trends after the launch of the R15 and the FZ series, showed a decline in sales for the first time after a long period. Sales in December 2009 dipped 15.15 percent to 13,612 units as compared to 16,043 they managed during the same month last year. However, Yamaha is all set to launch plethora of smaller volume enhancing bikes which would definitely see Yamaha back in positives pretty soon. Yamaha is also expected to roll out an updated version of their flagship model, the YZF R15 pretty soon.
SUZUKI INDIA: Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt. Limited (SMIL) registered a whopping 61 percent increase in its December 2009 sales. The company managed to sell 14,806 units of two wheelers as against 9,196 units they managed to sell in December last year. Suzuki attributed the growth momentum to the fantastic response received to its 125cc scooter Access and the 150cc powerful commuter bike, GS150R. Currently, Suzuki is concentrating on enhancing its dealer base to better the penetration levels in the country so that they can provide better service to the buyers.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter in India (HMSI) did not publish open their sales data. According to SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers), two wheeler sales grew 77 percent at 5.92 lakh units against 3.35 lakh units recorded in December 2008 which reflects the awesome response the two wheeler industry received and also demystifies the fact that the black clouds of recession are almost over. The growth is also a reflection of the fact that Indian economy has recovered better than most of the other economies of the World. Automobile companies are investing a lot in the Research and Development of new and exciting technologies to provide better products and the rest is being taken care by the competition. Looking at the technology display fest in the ongoing Auto Expo 2010, we are set sure to witness some fine products from some of the finest companies in India.
Regards,
Saad Khan
