Honda’s triumph. Hero loses sheen to Honda for first time in retail sales

For the first time in their history after separation in 2011, country’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp has lost sheen to its rival Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) and lost market share too in September retail sales.

According to the monthly retail sales data by Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), HMSI’s sales has gone up to 2,84,160 units with a market share of 28 per cent as against Hero’s 2,50,246 units and 25 per cent market share.

For the last few months, HMSI has been closing in Hero’s numbers. For instance, in July Hero’s market share was 32 per cent and HMSI’s 26 per cent, but in August Hero’s market share came down to 28 per cent and HMSI’s rose to 25 per cent market share.

However, in the domestic wholesale, Hero is still leader in the market with 5,07,690 units in September whereas HMSI has registered 4,88,924 units during the month.

Strong demand in Q2

“The auto-industry registered a strong demand force in Q2 as this momentum continues to rise with the on-going festival celebration. All our dealerships are witnessing a visible rise in physical walk-ins and customer enquiries,” Atsushi Ogata, MD, President and CEO, HMSI had said while sharing the monthly numbers on Monday.

According to FADA, due to increased input costs, two-wheeler companies raised prices by five times in past one year.

“Apart from this, RBIs fight with inflation saw rate hikes, which continued to make vehicle loans expensive. While India is showing revival signs, Bharat is yet to perform. Two-wheeler, especially entry level vehicles are finding extremely less buyers thus dragging the entire segment,” Manish Raj Singhania, President, FADA said.

Overall, the two-wheeler retail sales in September grew by nine per cent year-on-year (YoY) to 10,15,702 units as compared with 9,31,654 units in the corresponding month last year.

The retail sales of passenger vehicle (PV) also grew by 10 per cent YoY to 2,60,556 units during last month as against 2,37,502 units in September 2021.

Led by electric category, the total three-wheeler retail sales grew by 72 per cent YoY to 63,915 units in September, contributing more than 50 per cent to the sales, against 37,172 units in same month last year.

Festival boost

“Auto retail for the month of September saw an overall growth of 11 per cent. September witnessed both, the inauspicious period of Shradh from September 10-25 and festive period that began with Navratri on September 26. Due to this, the full potential for the month was not realised as it should have been,” Singhania said.

Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand showed weakness with lower contribution to auto retail especially in entry level two-wheeler and PV category, he said.

“While overall retail in PV will be at a decade high during this festive season, it is the two-wheeler category where auto industry continues to pin its hope for showing healthy growth,” Singhania added.

In the commercial vehicle (CV), category the total retail sales grew by 19 per cent YoY to 71,233 units during the month as compared with 59,927 units in September 2021.

However, sales of tractor declined by more than one per cent YoY to 52,595 units in September as against 53,392 units in the corresponding month last year.

Overall, the total retail sales of all categories put together grew by 11 per cent YoY to 14,64,001 units last month as compared with 13,19,647 units in September last year, the latest FADA report added.

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