Major two-wheeler manufacturers on Monday reported double-digit fall in February sales as weak demand due to the sharp increase in selling price amidst an economic slowdown continues to hamper demand.
Automakers also said that the outbreak of the coronavirus has impacted production at the manufacturing facilities and they are looking for alternatives to overcome this challenge. India’s largest two-wheeler producer Hero MotorCorp reported 20.04 per cent decline in domestic sales at 4,80,196 units last month as compared to 6,00,616 units sold in the same period a year ago.
Overall (including exports), it reported a 19.27 per cent decline in total sales at 4,98,242 units in February. Hero said that the ongoing coronavirus issue had adversely impacted production at the company’s manufacturing facilities last month.
"Since then, substantial progress has been made in developing alternate sources for procuring components. Meanwhile, the component makers in China having restarted production are also expected to resume normal supplies soon," it said.
Similarly, Chennai based TVS Motor’s domestic two-wheeler sales declined 27 per cent at 169,684 units in February 2020 as against the sale of 231,582 units in February 2019. Total two-wheeler sales, including exports, stood at 235,891 units as against sales of 285,611 units in February 2019, a decline of 17.4 per cent.
On the outbreak, it said that the outbreak of coronavirus has led to an impact on the supply of certain components for the production of BS-VI vehicles and that efforts were being made to normalise this at the earliest. Bajaj Auto also reported a double-digit decline in its February sales.
Its domestic two-wheeler sales fell 21 per cent to 1,46,876 units last month as against 1,86,523 units sold in the same month last year. Its total domestic sales (including CV sales) declined by 24 per cent at 1,68,747 units last month as compared to 2,21,706 units in February 2019.
The two OEMs which reported positive figure during February were Royal Enfield and Suzuki Motorcycles India. Royal Enfield reported a jump of two per cent in the domestic sales to 61,188 units in February 2020. The two-wheeler manufacturer had sold 60,066 units in the same month last year.
Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt. Ltd. (SMIPL), the two-wheeler subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan clocked monthly domestic sale of 58,644 units during the month of February 2020 as compared to 57,174 units sold in February 2019. Overall, SMIPL registers Y-O-Y growth of 3.5 per cent with monthly sales of 67,961 units (Domestic + Exports) in February 2020 as compared to 65,630 units sold in February last year.
Koichiro Hirao, Managing Director, SMIPL said, "Inching closer to the end of the current fiscal year, we are happy with our sustained growth momentum. February was an eventful month for us as we unveiled the BS6 compliant product portfolio at the Auto Expo 2020 that received much love from the automobile enthusiasts."
Stocks drop
Owing to the major double-digit fall in demand, Bajaj’s stock dropped 3.21 per cent to close at Rs 2,797.70 on the BSE. During the trade, it declined 4 per cent to Rs 2,774.