Two-wheeler sales 2020: There seems to be no respite in the fall which is a resultant of big price hike that has been necessitated by various government rulings.
Two-wheelers, in fact, the whole automobile industry was growing at a very good pace few years back. This resulted in many international makers getting lured into India. However, things have turned bad and various regulations that have come into play recently have taken the prices significantly higher. Prices of motorcycles and scooters have risen sharply which has eroded the buying base. Add to this the slowing economy which has further kept buyers away from showrooms.
SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) has released the sales numbers of two-wheelers for the month of January as well as cumulative figures for the year and it establishes that there has been no turnaround in the fortunes of auto makers.
Two-Wheeler Sales 2020 – January
In the month of January 2020, 4,16,594 scooters were sold as compared to 4,97,169 units in January 2019 – a downfall of 80,575 units or 16 percent. Motorcycle sales dropped from 10,27,766 units in Jan 2019 to 8,71,886 units, signifying a drop of over 1.55 Lakh units.
But the biggest shortfall was seen in mopeds which registered total sales of 52,525 units in January 2020 as compared to 72,593 units in the corresponding month last year – a drop of almost 28 percent. Clubbing this, two-wheeler makers registered total sales of 13.41 lakh units in Jan 2020 as compared to almost 16 lakh two-wheelers in January 2019 which is a shortfall of over 2.56 Lakh units or 16 percent.
| Type | Jan 2020 | Jan 2019 | Percent Change |
| Scooters | 416,594 | 4,97,169 | -16.21 |
| Motorcycles | 871,886 | 10,27,766 | -15.17 |
| Mopeds | 52,525 | 72,593 | -27.64 |
Two-Wheeler Sales 2020 – Scene So Far
Now let us switch over to cumulative numbers for this financial year (ie sales from April 2019 to January 2020) which will give us a bigger picture of how has the year panned out for the makers.
To set the context, last year in this period, makers dispatched 18,124,313 units which are 28.68 Lakh higher than this year’s numbers (15,255,979 units) – suggesting a big drop of nearly 16 percent!
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Individually, mopeds continued remarkable drops of over 25 percent and registered sales of 5.48 lakh units down from 7.34 lakh units in last year in the corresponding period. Scooters and motorcycles sales were down by 15-16 percent further hitting the makers big time.
| Type | Jan 2020 | Jan 2019 | Percent Change |
| Scooters | 416,594 | 4,97,169 | -16.21 |
| Motorcycles | 871,886 | 10,27,766 | -15.17 |
| Mopeds | 52,525 | 72,593 | -27.64 |
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Almost all the big manufacturers have seeked for a GST cut on two wheelers. Currently, 2-wheelers are being taxed at the highest 28 percent slab which is generally for luxury/sin goods. Makers have demanded that the GST rates for two-wheelers be cut to 18 percent so that there is a relaxation in the prices which can be passed onto customers.
