There has always been a lot of confusion as to who is the leader in the 150cc bike segment of India. People are also curious to know if the CB Trigger is a success, some feel it’s a blockbuster while others who hardly see it on the road feel the model is following in the footsteps of the Dazzler. The 150cc motorcycle segment is a crucial one as it’s a class of motorcycles where you get the perfect balance of power and economy. In order to get the real picture of who sells what, we do some number crunching of the motorcycles in the 150cc segment.
The sales numbers are reported product-wise so last month Bajaj Auto sold a total of 45,994 units of the Pulsar. Since the Pulsar compromises of five models – 135 LS, 150, 180, 200 NS and 220F, we have to do some assumptions to get an estimated figure of how many Pulsar 150s were sold in the month of July 2014. In June, Bajaj Auto sold 40,177 units of bikes in the 125-150cc. Now in that displacement, only two bikes come, one is the Pulsar 135 LS and the other is the Pulsar 150 (the Discover 125 is 124.6cc and isn’t included). Thus assuming 4000 units of the 135 LS was sold in June, Bajaj sold around 34,000 units of the Pulsar 150 in that month. 80% sales of Pulsars come from the Pulsar 150. The Pulsar 180 and Pulsar 200 NS account for around 7000 units per month while the Pulsar 220 F sells around 5000 units a month, so Pulsar 150 Sales = 46,000 – (135 + 180 + 200 + 220F sales/16,000).
There is no problem in the sales figures of other bikes as those have been reported by their respective manufacturers as it is since all these bikes are available with only one engine. Here are the domestic sales numbers –
- Bajaj Pulsar 150 – 30,000 units (rough estimate +/- 2000 units)
- Yamaha FZ – 20,062 units
- Honda CB Unicorn – 16,295 units
- TVS Apache – 16,207 (also includes 180 but majority sales come from 160)
- Hero Xtreme – 11,114 units
- Honda CB Trigger – 4965 units
- Yamaha R15 – 3326 units
- Yamaha Fazer – 2748 units
- Yamaha SZ – 1490 units
- Hero Hunk – 1266 units
- Suzuki GS150R – 144 units
- Honda CBR150R – 105 units
The above numbers are a bit surprising although we quite knew the Pulsar 150 is the highest selling bike in the segment, no one expects the Yamaha FZ to post such strong numbers. 40% of Yamaha sales come from the FZ alone with the Fazer also selling in decent numbers considering its price, no wonder Yamaha never felt the need to update the bike in urgency. The Unicorn continues to solider on like always while the Apache also posts decent numbers. Hero’s most popular 150cc bike is the Xtreme but the Hunk seems to be doing poorly. The CB Trigger isn’t performing well either, not a single month has its sales crossed 10,000 units and for the most part, it has averaged around the 5000 units mark. This makes the FZ outsell the Trigger in a ratio of 4:1! The SZ doesn’t perform well either.
No sales were reported of the Impulse and Hero stopped production long time back. Even the Achiever isn’t on sale anymore. It’s interesting to see how Yamaha has been beating Honda in the 150cc segment, the R15 sells 30 times more than the CBR150R. In fact, the R15 sells really well for its price. The GS150R is the worst selling bike in the 150cc segment but things should change for Suzuki with the arrival of the Gixxer. Let’s see if the new Discover 150 has any impact on the Unicorn in the coming months, we doubt it will.
