Hero MotoCorp controls 71% of the 75cc-110cc commuter bike segment and is clearly the most dominant player in India.
A few days ago, we put up the list of top 10 selling bikes in India out of which around 50% numbers were from Hero. If that figure didn’t look big enough, we have another one now. The Indian 2-wheeler company controlled a staggering 71% of the 75cc-110cc bike segment in India in the previous financial year as well as the first quarter of this financial year. The surprising fact is that despite a fall in the absolute sales figures of the commuter bikes, the company has been able to maintain the same market share due to a slowdown in rural markets.
Coming to the numbers, Hero sold 6,33,420 units of bikes under India’s most popular bike sub-brand, Splendor. It has been the first choice of almost everyone looking for a bike in the commuter segment due to the low purchase price, easy maintenance and presence of dealers in the remotest places. Another sub-brand which is very popular is the Passion under which the company sold 3,48,008 units. These numbers sure look impressive because they are almost double the numbers posted by all the competitors combined.
Even though brands like Honda and Mahindra have fairly good products in the segment with additional features, customers aren’t willing to make the switch to those since there are lesser dealerships and the maintenance costs are perceived to be higher than Hero MotoCorp. Previous year, Hero managed to move more than 48 lakh units of bikes from this segment alone. However, it hasn’t been able to do well in the upper end segment where it offers the Karizma twins. Refreshed recently, the bikes aren’t able to draw customers towards themselves.
Source – AutocarPro.com
