Two wheeler sales in general for May 21 crashed. The ongoing pandemic, lockdowns announced across various states, closure of plants and dealerships and the fear factor among buyers along with low disposable incomes have led to this grim situation.
However, there is a silver lining as lockdowns have been lifted in many states, the ongoing vaccine drive which boosts confidence of buyers and there are predictions of favourable monsoons, all of which could account for increased two wheeler sales in the months ahead. The only cause of concern remains the possibility of a third wave which could once again throw plans off track.
Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt. Ltd. (SMIPL), the two-wheeler subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan has released their sales report for May 2021. It may be seen from the attached table that MoM sales dipped both in domestic and global markets. Total sales (domestic and exports) in May 21 stood at 19,201 units as against 77,839 units sold in April 21.
Taking into account domestic sales, which stood at 12,513 units in May 21, down 80.41 percent over 63,879 units sold in April 21, it may be seen that the Suzuki Access commanded followed by the Burgman. Of the Access, the company sold 9,706 units in the past month, down 81.78 percent over 53,285 units sold in April 21. The Access scooter commands a 77.57 percent share in the company lineup.
At No. 2 was the Burgman with 2,745 units sold last month down 66.34 percent over 8,154 units sold in April 21. The Burgman maxi scooter is not as much a success locally as it is for export market. In India, the company is working on Suzuki Burgman electric scooter that will come in to rival the TVS iQube, Bajaj Chetak and Ather 450X.
MoM de-growth was also seen in the case of Suzuki Gixxer, Intruder, V-Strom sales in May 21. Gixxer and Gixxer 250 sales dipped 99.43 percent and 84.96 percent respectively while the V-Strom sales were down 100 percent MoM from 21 units sold in April 21 to 0 units in the past month. Newly launched Hayabusa registered sales of 11 units in May 2021.
The company has reported MoM de-growth across every model for May 21. The Gixxer motorcycle and Burgman scooter were the two most exported model in the company lineup at 3,524 units and 2,060 units respectively as against 6,142 units and 6,602 units exported in April 21. Other bikes in the list include Hayate (480 units), Intruder (40 units) and Access (12 units) while there was not a single unit of the Lets exported in the past month.
Even as Suzuki plans to ramp up exports too developed markets such as Japan and New Zealand, the company is also keep to increase shipments to other global markets which have recovered from the pandemic. Suzuki currently focuses on markets of Latin America, Japan, South East Asia and neighbouring countries of Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.