Honda closes in on Hero to become top two-wheeler manufacturer

While Hero led the domestic market with 507,690 units, 18,766 units more than Honda, its exports were 12,290 units, 5,935 units less than its erstwhile partner.
Image for representation
Image for representation

NEW DELHI: Japanese automaker Honda Motorcycle & Scooter (HMSI) is closing in on Hero MotoCorp (HMCL), as the gap between its September 2022 sales and current market leader Hero’s sales was just about 1,400 units.

HMSI on Monday reported that its total dispatches during September 2022 stood at 518,559 units (including 488,924 units in domestic and 29,635 exports) as compared to 481,908 units in September’21 (including 463,683 domestic sales & 18,225 exports). Hero MotoCorp, on the other hand, reported total dispatches of 519,980 units in September 2022, a minor fall from 530,346 units in September 2021.

While Hero led the domestic market with 507,690 units, 18,766 units more than Honda, its exports were 12,290 units, 5,935 units less than its erstwhile partner. However, Hero has already slipped from its top position in the monthly domestic two-wheeler retail sales, as per the Vahan portal — which records vehicle registration data across India. As per the portal, HMCL sold 251,939 units in September 2022 as against Honda’s 285,400 units.

Brokerage firm Elara Capital in a note said that the cause for concern for Hero is that in terms of market share in rural states, the home-grown firm has lost month-on-month (MoM) market share of 100-800 basis points. Another setback for Hero is the growing penetration of electric 2-Wheelers in the Rs 60,000-Rs 90,000 category. Hero is likely to answer this by launching its first EV on October 7. Hero and Honda in March 2011 effectively ended their 26-year partnership. In FY2011, Hero commanded a market share of little less than 45% while Honda had a market share of little over 13%.

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