While the Indian auto industry continues to brave months of slowdown, overall sales remain less than positive despite the ongoing festive season. Putting the spotlight on the two top selling two-wheelers, Honda Activa and Hero Splendor reveals close competition. One that could see either top sales for 2019, depending on what Q4 performance is.
YTD sales see Hero Splendor lead with 20,84,944 units sold. Honda Activa trails with 19,60,038 units sold. 1,24,906 units behind Splendor. While Hero Splendor performance was strong through Q1 and Q2, Honda Activa sales took the lead in Q3.
A performance in the green in Q3 enabled Honda Activa to take the lead for H1 FY19. Sales in the last 6 months (April to September 2019) sees Honda Activa lead at 13,93,256 units. This is 23,118 units over Hero Splendor sales, reported at 13,70,138 units. Honda says, ‘every minute 5 new customers are riding home on a new Activa!’
The Limited Edition Activa 5G introduced in June ‘19 comes with style additions, and 2 new striking dual-colour options. Honda has more than doubled production plan to meet demand. It was only as recently as 2016-17 that Activa took the lead over motorcycles as the top seller. Activa sales accounts for 14 percent domestic two wheeler sales. It’s top performance performance has given Honda 56 percent market share in the scooter segment.
Hero Splendor Q1 2019 sales is reported at 7,14,806 units at a lead of 1,48,024 units over Honda Activa sales of 5,66,782 units. For the quarter, March 2019 sales was the strongest for Splendor at 2,46,656 units at a lead of 98,415 units. Splendor led the table for all 3 months.
Through Q2 2019, Hero Splendor managed to stay ahead on all months. It’s best performance in Q2 was in May 2019 when 2,67,450 units were sold. The lead was 48,716 units over Honda Activa sales reported at 2,18,734 units in may 2018. Overall, Q2 2019 Hero Splendor sales is reported at 7,33,725 units. Honda Activa trailed by 67,291 units having sold 6,66,434 units.
A strong showing in Q1 and Q2, saw Hero Splendor sales at 14,48,531 units at the end of H1 2019. That’s a lead of 2,15,315 units over Honda Activa sales of 12,33,216 units. However, in Q3 2019, Honda Activa took the lead for all 3 months. For the quarter, 7,26,822 units of Activa were sold. Hero Splendor sales trail by 90,409 units with sales reported at 13,70,138 units. With Q4 underway, topping sales is still anyone’s game.
