Hero remains the king of the commuter space with as many as 6 products on sale in the 100-125cc segments, followed by Honda that is aggressively catching up.
One of the world’s largest two-wheeler markets, attaining success in India for any bike manufacturer will come in the presence of a commuter product that brings in the volumes. A lot of manufacturers have understood this concept a bit late, while the early risers continue to rule the roost. For August 2015, Hero MotoCorp showcased its dominance in the 100cc to 125cc motorcycle segment as six of its products continue to rake in massive volumes. The unbeatable Splendor continues to lead the commuter motorcycle segment clocking over 1.81 lakh units last month.
The Splendor was followed by other Hero products including the Passion with 81,529 units sold and HF Deluxe with 80,971 units sold. The HF Dawn and Ignitor 125 were the only slow selling products from the company’s lineup clocking just 2476 and 2097 units respectively. Following closely on Hero’s tail is ex-partner Honda that made it to the top 10 list with the CB Shine that sold 63,590 units last month. Honda’s entry-level Dream series made it to the seventh spot with 37,530 units sold, while the newly launched Livo is still catching up with 10,250 units moving out of showrooms.
While Bajaj dominates the 150-200cc segment, the company is rather humble in the commuter space with the CT 100 being its best selling model clocking 38,412 units. Sales for the Discover 125 though have picked up with 12,633 units sold, a 50 percent growth over last year. The Discover 100 continues to disappoint as only 4861 units moved out in August, less than 10 percent compared to the 25,332 units sold during the same period in 2014 (all Discover bikes combined sold under 20,000 units last month). The Platina happens to be Bajaj Auto’s silent performer in the commuter segment clocking a consistent 22,149 units.
While TVS does come with a strong lineup, it does not match up to Hero and Honda in terms of volumes. The Star City was the Chennai based manufacturer’s best selling product for August 2015 clocking 20,259 units, followed by the 100cc Sport amassing 10,508 units. The feature loaded Phoenix 125 did a decent 5509 units last month, around 9 percent of segment leader Honda CB Shine 125’s sales. Other manufacturers including Yamaha, Mahindra 2-Wheelers and Suzuki made it to the bottom of the list with four-digit sales for their respective models.
