Top two-wheeler manufacturers in India: 2.01 Crore two-wheelers sold in India, Market share analysis of world’s largest two-wheeler market India is the world’s largest two-wheeler market and despite the losses suffered by bike and scooter makers in India during the shift to BS-IV, the industry recovered well with a massive growth of 14.80 percent. Overall the two-wheeler industry saw a total sales of over 2.01 crore units sold in the Indian domestic market and exports from the country also shot up by over 20 percent. Within the Two Wheelers segment, Scooters and Motorcycles grew by 19.90 percent and 13.69 percent respectively, while the sales of mopeds declined by 3.48 percent in recently concluded FY 2017-18 when compared to sales in April-March 2017.
Further breaking it up, motorcycles segment saw a total domestic sales of over 1.26 crore and scooters contributed to 67.19 lakh units last year. As per SIAM report, India has 11 motorcycle manufacturers and 7 scooter manufacturers. Motorcycles contributed to 62.4 percent of the total sales, scooters increased their contribution to 33.27 percent and mopeds share declined to 4.25 percent.
Hero MotoCorp also the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer has continued to be the leader in the Indian two-wheeler industry by selling over 73.82 lakh motorcycles in the Indian market. This is about 14 percent more than what it sold last year. Hero Splendor has been India’s top-selling motorcycle and launch of new products like Hero Glamour and HF-Deluxe continue to allure buyers especially in the rural markets. Hero MotoCorp did lose out on its scooter sales to its former Japanese partner Honda Motorcycles and Chennai based TVS Motor Company also overtook Hero in scooter sales. Hero also exported over 2 lakh motorcycles in India. Hero MotorCorp commands a total of 36.56 percent market share in India.
Honda Motorcycles and Scooters India (HMSI) has grown at a massive 22.23 percent growth in India and sold a total of over 57.75 lakh motorcycles and year-on-year is closing on the gap to become the market leader. Scooters contributed to over 66 percent of Honda’s total two-wheeler sales in India with over 38.21 lakh scooters sold. Honda Active is the country’s most sold scooter and the company has also launched the Honda Grazia and Honda Cliq to cater to the younger audience. HMSI’s market share stands at 28.60 percent.
TVS Motor Company often referred in the industry as one of the most sorted companies in India has grown by over 15% last financial year and its new sports bikes in Apache series and also commuters like TVS Victor along with major boost from TVS Jupiter has helped the company to achieve a total sales of over 28.75 lakh, grabbing a market share of 14.24 percent.
Only motorcycle manufacturers Bajaj and Royal Enfield have reported a sales of 19.74 lakh units and 8.01 lakh units respectively. While Bajaj Auto’s sales did drop by 1.3 percent YoY, Royal Enfield grew by over 23 percent and recorded its most sales ever. Considering Royal Enfield only makes premium motorcycles in India (350cc and above) this is a massive achievement by Sid Lal’s lead, Chennai based motorcycle manufacturer. The company is coming months plan to launch two new premium motorcycles in India, Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 and Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 that were showcased at EICMA 2017.
Japanese two-wheeler manufacturers, Suzuki Motorcycle and Yamaha Motor India sold a total of 5.01 lakh and 7.92 lakh units respectively. Both of these companies sell scooters, commuters and premium motorcycles in India. Suzuki Motorcycle closed the financial year at a market share of 2.48 percent and Yamaha’s market share in India is 3.92 percent.
Outlook for two-wheeler industry in FY 2018-2019:
• Premium motorcycle segment is expected to outperform other sub-segments due to new model launches; also some product-level alterations in the economy segment by leading players have led to a boost in sales of economy segment.
• ABS/CBS mandatory installation from April 2019 is expected to hike prices by Rs.500 -1000 for the economy, executive motorcycles and around Rs. 9,000 for premium motorcycles. SIAM negligible impact on sales because of this on economy/executive segment; however premium segment stands to get impacted.
• In FY19, scooter sales are expected to rise sharply
• Scooters are expected to grow at a sharp pace led by the increased disposable incomes amidst positive economic factors coupled with increasing penetration in the rural market and an increase in women participation.
• CBS installation is expected to hike prices by Rs.500 -1000 for scooter models which currently do not have CBS installed. We expect a negligible impact on scooter sales on account of this as most models have CBS already installed.
• Multiple ownership (more than one two-wheeler in a household) on account of convenience is also showing increased traction.
During the recently concluded financial year, the two-wheeler manufacturers in India achieved various milestones including maximum two-wheeler production at 23 million, production of scooters crossing 7 million and motorcycles crossing 15 million for this first time.
The industry believes that the growth would continue to be consumption led as interest rates are expected to remain soft and inflation under control in the new year. In FY19, motorcycles are expected to grow moderately.
