Hero MotoCorp, the largest selling two wheeler brand in the world has regained its prime position in the market a month after Bajaj Auto’s Discover overtook the Splendor. During October’s festive season Hero MotoCorp sold over 5 lakh units domestically, with Splendor accounting for over 1.8 lakh of those. Bajaj Auto meanwhile managed to retail 2.62 lakh units, of which over 1.52 lakh were Discovers. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) at No. 3 sold 2.36 lakh units last month in the domestic market.
Hero MotoCorp managed to get ahead of its competition with the sales of 3.41 million units in the first seven months of fiscal year 2013, 1.4 million of these were Splendors. According to industry estimates HMSI did sales of 1.52 million units and Bajaj Auto sold 1.48 million units in the April to October period. A year ago, Hero’s market share had slipped to 42.7% in the April to September 2012 from 45.3% in the same period. Analysts expect improvement in company’s market share in the third quarter.
“We expect the race to be very close. What is important to note is that Discover’s sales in the October of 2011 were a fourth of Splendor; that gap has narrowed significantly at present. We still have lots of headroom to grow considering we still haven’t started exporting the Discover 125 ST. It is upward for Discover and downward for Splendor,” K Srinivas, president, motorcycle business, Bajaj Auto, said.
While Hero MotoCorp is still the king in terms of volumes, Bajaj Auto is expected to give them tough competition. The upcoming 100cc bike from Bajaj (could be badged as Discover) has a good chance of boosting volumes and closing the gap between Bajaj and Hero. Honda is expected to see an increase in sales too with the Dream Yuga performing well for the Japanese automaker.
Source – EconomicTimes
