While the Honda Activa is the leader in sales, the TVS Jupiter is growing strongly in the automatic scooter space with numbers climbing steadily.
Irrespective of the overall downturn in the Indian automotive industry, the two-wheeler space has shown immense growth particularly in the automatic scooter space that has grown steadily. Overall, the scooter space grew by 2.61 percent in the previous month, still lower than the massive volumes that motorcycles manage in the same price range. Hence, scooters come with a lot of potential to be explored in the coming years and the early arrivals in the segment are surely going to benefit from the same. With more segments to open up in the future, we take a look at the scooter sales report for May 2015.
Observations –
1) The accelerated growth of the Honda Activa needs no introduction and the automatic scooter continues to dominate the sector. The Japanese auto giant sold 1,87,827 units in May 2015 clocking a growth of 16.64 percent against the same period last year; while sales compared to April 2015 grew by 8.52 percent. Apart from the Activa, the Dio and Aviator were popular sellers in Honda’s stable at the fourth and ninth spot respectively. The Aviator is set for an update later this year, which should improve the brand’s position in the future.
2) The second best selling scooter in the country, sales for the Hero Maestro dropped to 37,275 units in May 2015, as compared to the 39,523 units sold during the same period last year. Essentially an Activa underneath, the Maestro still needs to lot of catching up to do against its Japanese twin. The Maestro’s sibling is also a consistent performer on the list with 13,520 units sold in May 2015 and continues to retain its sixth spot.
3) While TVS does not have a high selling motorcycle, its scooters, the Jupiter and Scooty Pep+ are doing well on the sales front clocking 31,944 units and 7497 units respectively. Given the positive word the Jupiter currently enjoys, we could see sales of the very capable scooter surpassing the Hero Maestro in the future. The TVS Wego though hasn’t been as popular in comparison and clocked 4930 units in May this year, down by 43.59 percent when compared to the same period last year.
4) The relatively new performer Yamaha Alpha surpassed sibling Ray in sales clocking 10,527 units for May 2015 with the models resting on the seventh position. The Ray registered marginally lower sales of 9102 units in the previous month and settled at the eighth spot. The Yamaha scooters though have been consistent sellers in the past months. With the Fascino now on sale, the company is expecting to strengthen its position in the market further.
5) Unlike the Gixxer, Suzuki’s new Let’s scooter that made its debut last year hasn’t been well received and sold a mere 1692 units this May with sales dropping by 70.24 percent compared to May 2014. In contrast, the Suzuki Access is still preferred by the masses with 14,780 units sold last month. The Swish continues do around 2000 units every month.
