Even as the Indian scooter market continues to maintain its growth momentum, the focus has been on two brands — TVS Motor and Hero MotoCorp — in the recent months.

While Honda remains the Number 1, there is a fierce battle between TVS and Hero for the Number 2 position.

Hero started to make strong inroads into the segment with a slew of new scooter launches, pipping TVS for the second spot in 2016. However, in early 2017, TVS regained the position.

During April-December 2017, TVS Motor’s scooter volumes stood at 8.25 lakh units against 6.10 lakh units in the same period a year ago. Its market share grew to 16.2 per cent (14.2 per cent), while Hero’s volumes grew to 6.58 lakh units from 6.23 lakh.

But the market share dropped to 12.9 per cent (14.5 per cent).

TVS’ lead over Hero was mostly due to good response for its Jupiter model and its variants with premium features, according to Subrata Ray, Group Senior Vice-President, ICRA.

Both players are also offering new products in the 125cc scooter market.

125cc segment

Earlier this week, TVS introduced its all-new sporty 125cc scooter NTorq, targeted at people below 25 years of age, at a price of ₹ 58,750. Hero followed by unveiling 125cc variants of its Maestro Edge and Duet, which will hit the market during the second quarter of the next fiscal.

“This segment is not adequately served. We see a good opportunity to address the needs of the customers with NTorq,” said Aniruddha Haldar, Vice-President (Marketing), Commuter Motorcycles, Scooters and Corporate Brand, TVS.

The company expects sales of 15,000-20,000 units a month for NTorq, which will help TVS widen the gap with Hero, which will launch its new scooters only next year.

However, Hero has been aggressively pushing the sales of its scooters and also cut the prices of Duet.

Pawan Munjal, MD, Hero, has said the firm’s scooter business will receive a stronger focus and it was confident of increasing its share with the upcoming new scooters.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW