Harley-Davidson, Triumph and Kawasaki have seen a significant drop in sales last month while KTM and Royal Enfield continue to grow in the premium 2-wheeler market of India.
It’s that time of the month again when sales figures keep all of us busy. After analysing lower segments, it’s time to see how premium motorcycles performed in terms of sales last month. The story isn’t very different from the month preceding the previous month, thus in July too, sales of premium bikes were more or less similar to June. At the top, it’s Royal Enfield which continues to post good growth in numbers, the Classic 350 accounting for more than 50% sales of the British brand. In fact, the Classic 350 is doing so well that it even outsells the top most selling bike in the 150cc segment. The Classic 350 was the 13th top selling 2-wheeler in India last month.
KTM continues its run at second position with just four models on sale, the smallest portfolio in the premium motorcycle space. The 200cc KTMs continue to perform exceptionally well for the Austrian brand while the 390s easily manage to outsell its rivals by a big margin. Coming to the Japanese manufacturers, Yamaha isn’t reporting its sales figures or probably didn’t manage to sell any big bike last month since deliveries of the new R1 is yet to commence. Honda saw a big spike in numbers thanks to the recently launched CBR650F while Suzuki remained constant, a decrease in Hayabusa sales was compensated by an increase in sales of the GSX-S1000.
The top Japanese automaker in the premium space, Kawasaki saw a drop in sales with the Ninja 300 seeing a big decrease in numbers (Yamaha R3 effect?). The Z800 and ZX-10R also saw a big decline in numbers while the Z1000, Ninja 1000 and ZX-14R saw a good spike in sales. Still Kawasaki’s overall sales have dropped and the upcoming single-cylinder quarter-litre bikes could boost their numbers. Harley and Triumph also saw a decrease in sales numbers which seems a lot (monsoon effect, maybe). Both the entry-level Bonneville and Street 750 saw a dip in demand while sales of the Street Triple and Iron 883 fell dramatically. But the Fat Boy, Street Bob and Tigers have been doing quite well.
The Street vs Continental GT battle was won by Royal Enfield last month, although by a whisker. Kawasaki’s entry-level bike, the Z250 is the least selling bike in Team Green’s portfolio, proof that value sells at any price and the quarter-litre naked from the Ninja maker fails to deliver value to buyers. All manufacturers except the Japanese were able to sell all their models with none recording zilch sales. Yamaha is yet to start sales of the R3 in India with deliveries commencing next month, they have a target of selling 200 units a month but will they? Our sales reports in the next couple of months will answer that very question.
