Bajaj Auto has witnessed a sharp decline in motorcycle sales in September this year compared to 2011. The company attributed this largely to the festival season commencing a month later compared to last year.

Though commercial vehicle sales also were down, Bajaj Auto said that the total sales recorded last month were the second highest for any September. But the company could take heart from the fact that the bigger vehicles-Pulsar and Discover brands- accounted for a large chunk of the sales in the month.

In a communication to the stock exchanges, Bajaj Auto said the motorcycle sales in September declined 15 per cent to 3,15,314 units (3,71,208 units).

It sold 44,838 CVs last month, down from 46,478 units in the same month in 2011, a 4 per cent decline.

The total sales fell sharply by 14 per cent to 3,60,152 units (4,17,686 units).

Exports also witnessed a 6 per cent decline to 1,33,222 units (1,41,913 units).

Bajaj said that the sales decline was “largely due to the festive season being a month later than it was last year”. The company said that its bigger and sportier Pulsar and Discover models contributed to 64 per cent of the motorcycle sales. The sales of new Pulsar 200 NS were 9,000 units and it sold 35,000 Discover 125 ST units during last month.

In the first six months of the current fiscal, Bajaj Auto sold 19,11,147 units that was 4 per cent less than 19,90,408 units during April-September 2011. Commercial vehicle sales witnessed a greater fall of 19 per cent - to 2,17,032 units compared to 2,66,544 units last year. The total sales were 21,28,179 units (22,56,952), a 6 per cent decline. Exports accounted for 8,05,930 units during April-Sept 2012 compared to 8,51,498 units in the same time last year.

On the BSE, the company’s shares were trading at Rs 1,800, a fall of Rs 11.90, in the morning trade.

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