According to data released by SIAM, the total number of scooters sold in May 2018 stood at 5,55,467 which is a decline of 1.4 percent compared to same month last year.
Before the introduction of gearless scooters like Activa, which is so popular among customers thanks to its versatile nature, bikes were the prime choice of entry level customers looking for a two wheeler for their daily commutes. Over the years, scooter sales increased drastically and bike sales began to come down.
Most of the manufacturers have scooters in their portfolio and they are the main source of sales for them. For instance, Activa is the best selling scooter in India and 50 percent sales of Honda are coming from this scooter. It shows the importance of scooters. But things don’t always go well and we are beginning to see a shift in customer demand.
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For the first time in 16 months, sales of scooter has fallen which is a big surprise considering that Activa is still the number 1 two wheeler sold in the country beating Hero Splendor range. According to the data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the total number of scooters sold in May 2018 stood at 5,55,467 which is a decline of 1.4 percent compared to same month last year.
One of the reasons for falling in sales is that people in rural areas prefer cheap motorcycles rather than scooters and sales from Urban area has also come down. This shift in demand helped bikes to post 15.16 percent year on year growth by selling 12,21,559 units in May 2018. This positive momentum is certainly helping bike manufacturers like Hero and Bajaj.
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Hero Moto Corp sold more than 7 lakh units last month which is almost a lakh more than what they have achieved in May 2017. This impressive growth helped the company to maintain the lead from Honda in second position which also registered 3 percent growth as the company is witnessing drop in sales of other models except Activa.
Bajaj Auto is the biggest gainer in two wheeler industry as the company posted YoY growth of 23 percent in May 2018. The recent price cuts and introduction of new features helped the company to improve sales. Auto analysts, expects bikes sales to continue growth in coming months with new launches and aggressive marketing strategies.