One of the best performing segment of the Indian auto industry, the two wheeler segment, is going through a bad phase. With sales of passenger car segment registering its highest ever decline in about 10 years, two wheeler industry too is going through a difficult phase.
April 2019 sales report of seven largest two wheeler brands in the country reveal that sales continue to be on a decline for yet another month. Below are detailed sales report of all top two wheeler brands in India.
Hero MotoCorp – Hero continued to stay on the top of the table with sales of 567,932 units registered in April 2019. Compared to April 2018, when the company registered sales of 677,792 units, this is a huge decline of over 16% for Hero MotoCorp.
Honda – After registering about 50% decline in sales for March 2019, Honda had slipped to the 3rd spot in the sales chart, behind TVS. But for April 2019, they have regained their 2nd spot. In April 2019, Honda registered sales of 432,767 units, as against 635,824 units sold in April 2018. This is a massive decline of about 32%. Of all the top 7, Honda has registered the highest decline in sales for 2nd consecutive month. Honda sales have been largely affected by decline in sales of their best selling scooter – Activa.
TVS – For April 2019, TVS slipped to 3rd spot. They registered sales of 248,456 units last month. Compared to April 2018, when the company sold 241,604 units, this is a marginal increase in sales by about 3% – thanks to their best selling Luna / TVS XL moped.
Bajaj – Bajaj is another two wheeler brand which continues to post a positive growth in sales despite of these bad times. For April 2019, Bajaj sales stood at 205,875 units, there by growing by 2.56%. In April 2018, the company registered sales of 200,742 units.
Yamaha – In spite of launching a couple of new motorcycles, Yamaha sales declined in April 2019 to 60,781 units. This is a 10% decline when compared to sales registered in April 2018 (67,668 units).
Royal Enfield – Sales of Royal Enfield continue to decline. This is the 6th consecutive month where RE has registered a decline in sales. In April 2019, RE registered sales of 59,137 units as against 74,627 units sold in April 2018 – thereby registered a decline of over 20%.
Suzuki – This Japanese brand posted the highest increase in sales of the top 7. It also had the least sales in the list. Suzuki April 2019 sales stood at 57,053 units, as against 52,237 units sold in April 2018. This is an increase of over 9%.
Experts have stated that this is just the start of decline in sales. Indian auto industry will go through an even tougher phase in the coming months. As per a report, there have been over 2,000 crore loss in retail business and 3,000 job losses in the industry due to this decline in sales.
Dealerships are strained due to rise in inventory levels, as manufacturers push production to dealers. But with sales declining, dealers are now sitting with inventory of about 45-50 days. This has resulted in cash crunch for the dealer, especially the smaller ones. With respite not in sight, some dealers have even shut shop and left the business altogether.
