The Indian two wheeler industry continues to grow at a rapid pace with new and updated products being added in quick succession. Two wheeler makers vying for a top spot have been revamping their product strategies and pricing policies and while the motorcycle segment as a whole ended the last month of FY24 on a positive note, particular attention was paid to the 300-500cc segment that has grown by 17.81% on a YoY basis.
Though Royal Enfield continues to be the undisputed champion of this segment, rivals are trying to launch new motorcycles in this segment and eat into their market share. In the past year there have been many additions to the segment, with the new Triumph 400, Harley X440 and Honda CB350. New Hero Mavrick also joined the ranks while Kawasaki brought in several new offerings. There is now the Bajaj Pulsar NS400, RE Classic 350 facelift and Kawasaki 300cc ADV set for launch while Honda too plans a host of new offerings in this segment.
Sales of motorcycles in the 300-500cc segment improved to 76,502 units in March 2024, up from 64,937 units sold in March 2023, a volume growth of 11,565 units. MoM sales saw a slight decline by 1.74% when compared to 77,860 units sold in February 2024. Royal Enfield continued to lead with the 300-500cc motorcycle segment with 4 of its models in the top 4 positions. Classic 350 remained a top performer with 25,508 unit sales in March 2024, a 4.26% YoY growth from 24,466 units sold in March 2023. MoM sales however, dipped 9.90% from 28,310 units sold in February 2024. The Classic 350 commands a 33.34% market share.
RE Hunter and Bullet followed along with the Meteor 350 in quick succession. Hunter 350cc sales improved by a massive 45.07% in March 2024 to 15,702 units, up from 10,024 units sold in March 2023. It also saw a huge MoM growth by 29.53% to command a 20.52% market share. Bullet 350cc sales on the other hand dipped 5.91% YoY while it also suffered a MoM setback by 19.23% to 11,262 units. Meteor sales grew enormously to 8,963 units, a 44.31% YoY growth while MoM sales also improved by 10.31%.
Next up was the combined Jawa Yezdi retail sales of 2,476 units but lower YoY and MoM sales when compared to 3,325 units and 2,556 units sold in March 2023 and February 2024 respectively. RE once again entered the fray with the Himalayan with 2,216 units sold last month. Sales of this 450cc adventure bike however suffered YoY and MoM setback. Honda H’ness sales also fell to 2,085 units in the past month, a 28.20% YoY decline while MoM sales grew by just 0.63%.
Lower down the sales list was the Triumph 400 of which 2,042 units were sold last month, a 10.08% MoM growth. However, other relatively new-comers to this list that included the Harley X440 (1,839 units) and Honda CB350 (1,457 units) both saw MoM decline in sales. There was also a YoY and MoM de-growth reported for the KTM 390 (745 units).
With the new Hero Mavrick 440 having entered the segment in February 2024, sales touched 568 units in March 2024. There was also the Dominar 400 (478 units), TVS Apache (446 units), Honda CB300 (232 units) and Husqvarna 401 (161 units). It was the Husqvarna 401 that has seen an exemplary MoM growth in sales by 1511.56% from just 64 units sold in February 2024.
Aprilia RS457 also saw a huge MoM growth by 2300% to 120 units sold in March 2024 from just 5 units sold in March 2023. The list also included the Kawasaki Ninja 300 (85 unit) Ninja 500 (39 units), Yamaha R3/MT03 (36 units) besides the Honda CB500 (30 units), Kawasaki Eliminator 400 (7 units) and Kawasaki Ninja 400 (5 units).
This post was last modified on April 27, 2024 10:24 am