Hero MotoCorp and HMSI (Honda 2-Wheelers) registered a massive drop in sales for the month of March 2019, wiping almost 3.5 lakh units from the sales chart in the 31-day period. The positions reshuffled for the first time in the last few years and drop in numbers are heartbreaking for the motorcycle/scooter fans of the country. Hero registered 5,53,302 units in March 2019. The number is massive in itself while one year ago, the brand was good for 7,04,874 units. The YoY drop is 21.5% for India’s highest selling motorcycle brand.
Honda, which was already seen as the biggest nightmare of Hero MotoCorp, got the worst hit ever with just 2,22,325 units in March 2019. The brand was earlier good for 4,17,380 units, clearly taking away 46.7% of the number in the YoY sales chart. This has made Honda the third largest brand instead of the second slot that it had from a long time with its brilliant Indian product lineup. As per the sales report of March 2019, TVS Motor is now the 2nd best-selling 2-wheeler brand in India.
Hero and Honda benefit from the popular Splendor (HF Deluxe too) and Activa brand names, with these counting almost half of their sales number in an average month. The focus of both the brands on the 100-125cc segment has made them the dominating duo for the commuter segment. Hero benefits from the lower than average price tags while Honda offers impressive engine options with reliability being the key point in both the decade-old rivals.
The presence of Honda Unicorn in the 150cc segment is prominent for sure while Hero recently entered the 200cc segment with the Xtreme 200R for some fair sales chunk. Both the bikes are definitely not the highest selling options of these sections as Bajaj and TVS are known to deliver the most effective bikes here.