NEW DELHI: After being in blue for a long time, it seems the worst for India’s two-wheeler industry is now over. Leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have now started reporting annual as well as sequential growth in sales even as these numbers are well below the peak monthly sales of 2017 and 2018.
Hero MotoCorp, the country’s largest two-wheeler maker, on Thursday reported that it sold 450,740 units in the domestic market last month as against 431,137 units sold in August 2021 and 4,30,684 units in July 2022. Similarly, Honda’s (HMSI) total dispatches registered 7% growth with 462,523 units in August’22 (423,216 domestic and 39,307 exports) compared to 431,594 units in August’21 (401,480 domestic and 30,114 exports).
“Market performance is gaining momentum against the previous month as well as a year-on-year basis. Welcoming the festive season with a range of products across verticals, we are confident the celebrations will be amplified further with attractive finance schemes available across our various touchpoints,” said Atsushi Ogata, MD at HMSI.
The recovery, however, is being led by two home-grown OEMs - Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor. Bajaj Auto on Thursday reported 48% YoY jump in its domestic 2W sales to 2,33,838 units in August 2022, while TVS’s domestic 2W sales were 2,39,325 units in August against 1,79,999 units in the year-ago month, a growth of 33%. Niche bike-maker Royal Enfield recorded 61% growth in domestic sales to 62,236 units.
In the passenger vehicle (PV) segment, the four leading players - Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, M&M and Tata Motors - registered healthy growth despite the prevalence of chip shortage. Maruti’s domestic sales grew by 30% in August to 134,166 units, Hyundai’s 6% to 49,510 units, M&M’s 87% to 29852 units and Tata Motors’ 68% to 47,166 units.