For 2-wheeler makers, whiff of a fresh kickstart

After a fall in sales in the July-September quarter, the two-wheeler industry sees a revival this quarter on account of extended festival season that will run into late November.

Sales dropped 3.83% last quarter as negative consumer sentiment, rising fuel costs and a slowdown in the economy kept buyers away.

The decline was sharpest in September when motorcycle sales fell 18.85% against the year-ago period, according to data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
However, the two-wheeler manufacturers say consumer interest is now picking up.

Anil Dua, senior vice-president (marketing and sales) at Hero MotoCorp, said, “We are hopeful that the market will come back in Q3. The start of Navratri has been positive so far. If this continues, there will be a bounce-back. We are cautiously optimistic and believe that the market is moving into a positive zone.”

The company also sees Splendor sales coming back on track during the quarter.

Though it may not be able to achieve the 2 lakh plus numbers for the Splendor brand, it is hopeful of selling 1.5 lakh units a month.
The company said it is gaining traction in the scooter segment and increasing annual capacity from 40,000 units a year to 60,000 units. It is betting big on its new launch, Maestro, which is targeted towards men.

For Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), the ongoing festival season is turning out to be much better than expected.
“There are lots of footfalls and the numbers are better than last festive season. The company’s newly launched Dream Yuga is driving the festive demand,” said Yadvinder S Guleria, vice-president, sales & marketing, HMSI.

The company has sold 51,000 vehicles during the first two days of Navratri.

Some dealers feel that the start of the season has been slow and the pickup is expected to be around Dussera and Diwali.

“It could be too early to predict as the festivals are only ending in mid-November. However, we do expect a marginal growth over Q3 last year,” K Srinivas, president – motorcycle business, Bajaj Auto.
For the first six months of this fiscal, sales grew at a slow 3.12%, mainly driven by scooters, which grew 20.46%. Mopeds grew 0.80% while motorcycle sales fell 0.79% during H1, according to SIAM.

The automakers’ body recently cut its forecast for motorcycle sales growth for the fiscal to 5-7% from 11-13% earlier.

“Factors such as delay in onset of monsoon, depressed yield on certain crops, rise in cost of inputs (labour, fertilisers and diesel) and dull growth in non-agricultural sources of income have combined to reduce disposable incomes in the rural market — the primary demand centre for motorcycles (particularly the entry-segment bikes) — resulting in deferment of purchase decision,” said a note by ratings agency Icra last week.