Hero Honda: World’s largest selling two wheeler company Hero Honda sold a whooping 3,89,802 two wheelers in January 2010, an increase of 23.57 percent over 3,15,458 units sold in January 2009. For the past thirteen months Hero Honda has been consistently selling more than 3 lakh two wheelers which give us a glimpse of the tight hold the company has over the Indian market. In another surprising news, Hero Honda said sales of their 102cc scooter Pleasure have been averaging 17000 units monthly and this month they managed to sell 18000 of them with the major constituent coming from the companies bread and butter 100cc segment. Hero Honda has plans of launching three new products in the coming two months.
Bajaj Auto: Bajaj Auto sold 2,33,000 units in January 2010, a rise of a fantastic 112 percent as compared to 1,09,000 units which they managed to sell in January 2009. Bajaj Auto has also been consistently selling more than 2 lakh two wheelers for the past many months. In the process Bajaj sold 71,970 Pulsars and 92,035 Discovers which constitute more than 70 percent of the overall sales of the company. The company also sold 28,000 Pulsar 135LS during its very first month of launch.
TVS Motors: Under a constant succession path, India’s third largest two wheeler company, Chennai based TVS Motors manage to notch 34 percent gain against corresponding period last year. TVS sold 93,729 two wheelers in January 2009 which went up to 1,25,578 units this January. Out of this, domestic sales in January 2010 stood at 1,09,504 units which were 37 percent higher than 79,729 units recorded by the company in January 09. Motorcycle sales increased 24 percent registering total count of 54,698 units in January 2010 as against the 43,990 units sold in January 2009. Scooters garnered a 43 percent increase in sales registering 25,509 units in January 2010 as compared to 17,832 units during January 2009.
Exports also saw an upswing registering a growth of 15 percent recording sales of 16,074 units against 14000 units exported during the corresponding period last year. During this month company’s premium bike Apache RTR 180 won the ‘Motorcycle of the year’ (upto 200cc) at the prominent NDTV Profit Car and Bike awards 2010. TVS also won the Best Customer Service Award presented by Apollo Auto India Best Brand Award 2010. Company’s chairman Venu Srinivasan was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri award for his contributions to the automobile industry.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI): Honda Japans fully owned Indian subsidiary, HMSI, which was suffering from labor unrest in their Gurgao plant a few months back, is back in rhythm with sales figures growing by 24.84 percent this January. The company managed to sell 1,18,571 two wheelers in January 2010 as compared to 94,982 units sold during the corresponding month previous year. Overall motorcycles stood at 47,815 units which were 19 percent more than 40,153, the number of units sold by the company in January 09. With the launch of new iterations of Aviator and Dio, scooter sales rose by as much as 29 percent and stood at 70,756 units as compared to 54,829 units registered in January 09. Indias best selling scooter Activa, remained the best seller for the company this month as well. According to HMSI, 125cc Shine has been averaging monthly sales of 25,000 units whereas the same figures for premium 125cc Stunner were quoted at 10,000 units. And now with the launch of an all new impressive volume-driven lower capacity 110cc CB Twister, these figures are all set to sky rocket in the forthcoming months!
Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt. Limited (SMIPL): This New Year bought smiles for SMIPL, the fully owned Indian subsidiary Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan, as they piped Yamaha India in sales figures for the very first month of the year. Suzuki encashed a massive 93 percent increase registering total sales of 20,441 units during the full month of January 2010. Month after month Suzuki has been moving ahead in the race and becoming a threatening force for its competition. Companies 150cc power commuter motorcycle GS150R along with the 125cc scooter offering were the major sales boosters.
Yamaha Motors (IYM): For a few months now, India Yamaha Motors (IYM) has been losing out few notches in the sales department. 2010 did not start on a bright note for the company and the spell created by the YZF R15 and the FZ series of bikes seem to be dying down a bit. Yamaha remained the lone premium bike manufacturer who suffered decrease in monthly sales. Yamahas sales dipped 3.94 percent to 17,598 units where they sold 18,320 of them during the same period previous year. To spruce up sales in the forthcoming months, Yamaha is planning to launch a low cost 150cc bike which might be priced at par with the current competition as their current offerings in this segment, FZ 16 and FZ S cost at around 6k to 9k more than the competition.
Mahindra Two Wheelers: A surprise entry here is the Mahindra Two Wheelers which recently took over the ailing Kinetic Motors a few months back. While Kinetic was on a continuous downslide, take over from Mahindra was seen by skeptics as a not-so-profitable step. But Mahindras foray into the two wheeler market is becoming successful for the company as has been displayed by the January 2010 sales figures. Mahindra sold more than 10,000 scooters for the first month of the New Year 2010.
Mahindra has currently three scooters for sale which are powered by the same 125cc engine. While Rodeo and Flyte are targeted for a more upmarket crowd, Duro has been made as a complete all rounder product. Mahindra sources its engines from Taiwan’s Sanyang Industry Company Limited (SYM) and has plans to become a mainstream player in the market in the times to come with products positioned in all segments and has plans to launch a bike in the near future to mark its presence in the booming motorcycle market as well.
– Saad Khan
