Honda 2 Wheeler India reports YTD FY’2019-20 sales at 40,24,154 units for the last 9 months. Of this, domestic sales is reported at 37,71,457 units, and exports at 2,52,697 units. Honda reports December ‘19 sales at 2,55,266 unit. Of this, 2,30,180 units account for domestic sales. Compared to December 2018 sales, decline is noticeable at 25.26 percent. That’s a quarter down. Domestic sales in December 2018 was reported at 3,07,996 units.
Dec 2019 domestic sales is the lowest Honda Motorcycles and Scooter India has reported in the current financial year. Exports stood at 22,259 units. Total December 2018 sales were up at 3,30,255 units. Of this, scooter sales accounted for 2,15,212 units, and motorcycle sales were reported at 92,784 units.
As 2019 ends, Honda is likely to go back to the drawing board. It doesn’t bode well that the manufacturer has lost 18.39 percent of its domestic sales volume through the year. Sales fell to 48,02,849 units, down from 58,84,894 units through the year. Cumulatively that’s a noticeable 10,82,045 units. Almost 11 lakh units lower.
December 2019 sales were the second lowest for the year. The lowest being in March 2019 when only 2,22,275 units were sold. In fact the year has been a squeeze all through. Honda was unable to reach monthly domestic sales of 5 lakh units even once through 2019, something the company was able to do 6 times in 2018. Q3 2019-20 sales was also the lowest quarter sales for 2019 and current FY. Honda sales has been in the red every month of the year gone by.
For the quarter gone by, December sales are the poorest. In the preceding months of the quarter, Honda sold 4,18,367 units in November, and 3,96,366 units (including exports) in October 2019. The auto industry has been putting on a brave face when tackling ongoing market contraction in recent months. Along with keeping a keen eye on sales, Honda is also undertaking best practices in transitioning to BSVI.
This becomes even more important considering the sheer number of Activa scooters the manufacturer sells in the country. This month, the company will also launch its Activa 6G BSVI scooter. This will be well within the BSVI mandate timeline of April 1, 2020. As such, HMSI has been focused on transitioning its high volume products with plenty of time to eliminate the possibility of any dead stock.
HMSI has already been selling BSVI compliant products. This includes Activa 125 BSVI and the SP 125. In the week leading upto Christmas, the company announced 60,000 BSVI units dispatched.
In the larger scheme of things, since starting mass production in 1949, Honda Motor Company has crossed the 400 million unit mark globally. For Honda, its Indian arm is the number one contributor to its global two-wheeler business. Currently, Honda is the largest two wheeler manufacturer in the world. In India, it is the 2nd largest, behind their former partner, Hero MotoCorp.
