Ahead of revision in FAME II subsidies there was frenzied buying of electric two wheelers which boosted retail sales in May 2023
It was on May 19, 2023 that the Ministry of Heavy Industries announced a reduction in subsidies provided under the FAME II scheme for electric two-wheelers to come into effect from June 1. This led to a spate of buying of electric vehicles and automakers such as Ola, Ather and Ampere have reported sales increase by several fold.
Overall, there had been 14,93,234 two wheelers sold in May 2023, a 9.32 percent growth over 13,65,924 units sold in May 2022. MoM retail sales of two wheelers also improved from 12,29,911 units sold in April 2023.
Two Wheeler Retail Sales May 2023
Hero MotoCorp topped sales charts once again with 5,30,658 units sold in May 2023, up from 5,12,150 units sold in May 2022. Market share of the company however, fell to 35.54 percent from 37.49 percent YoY. The company has now brought in its OBD-II and E20 compliant XPulse 200 4V in May 2023.
A YoY de-growth was reported by Honda, retail sales of which fell to 2,69,557 units in May 2023, from 2,91,752 units sold in May 2022. At No. 3 on this list was TVS Motor with a YoY growth in retail sales down to 2,52,247 units in the past month, up from 1,85,645 units sold in May 2022. This was a volume growth of 66,602 units. It was the TVS iQube that contributed good numbers to retail sales and the company sits on over 30,000 pending orders for this electric scooter.
Bajaj Auto also posted a YoY growth in retail sales to 1,86,150 units in May 2023 from 1,44,585 units sold in May 2022. Market share improved to 12.47 percent from 10.59 percent YoY. The Chetak electric scooter, listed under Chetak Technologies has recorded sales of 98 units in the past month.
Royal Enfield and Suzuki Motorcycle have seen retail sales improve to 68,570 units and 61,442 units respectively in May 2023 along with market shares which currently stand at 4.59 percent and 4.11 percent respectively. Retail sales of Yamaha Motors declined to 44,386 units last month. This was against 48,919 units sold in May 2022.
Electric 2W Retail Sales May 2023
It was the electric two wheeler segment that saw all the action in May 2023. Sales of Ola electric surged to 28,469 units in the said month, up from 9,269 units sold in May 2022. Retail sales of Ather Energy also went up to 15,266 units in May 2023 from 3,338 units sold in May 2022. Details of the new Ather 450S have emerged on the company website and will be opened for bookings from July 2023.
Another electric two wheeler maker to boast of increased sales last month was Ampere Vehicles with 9,618 units sold in May 2023, up from 6,178 units sold in May 2022. Okaya sales surged to 3,875 units from just 19 units sold in May 2022. However, Okinawa sales dipped to 2,905 units in May 2023 from 9,305 units sold in May 2022.
The list also included Piaggio with 2,830 units sold last month, down from 4,309 units sold in May 2022 and Classic Legends, retail sales of which dipped to 2,333 units in May 2023 from 3,577 units sold in May 2022. Hero Electric sales also fell to 2,109 units in May 2023 from 2,971 units sold in May 2022 while BGauss Auto entered the list with 1,813 unit retail sales in the past month. There were others in this segment that also contributed 11,006 units to total retail sales but with a severe de-growth when compared to 53,613 units sales in May 2022.