The scooter segment is bearing the brunt of the slowdown in the two-wheeler market. As a result, sales slumped 26 percent in April 2019 to 4,89,852 units (April 2018: 6,61,007 units / +12.63%).
Akin to Maruti Suzuki in the Indian passenger vehicle segment, Honda has its place in the Indian scooter market. The sharp fall in demand for the country’s bestselling scooter – the Activa – is making an impact over overall scooter industry numbers – and how.
While the Honda Activa remains the highest-sold by far, its sales of 2,10,961 units are a far cry from its sales of 3,39,878 units in April 2018. In fact, last month’s Activa sales are the lowest recorded numbers for the company since the 1,74,393 units it clocked in December 2018. The Activa was also the second-bestselling two-wheeler in India, after the Hero Splendor motorcycle.
The TVS Jupiter is back to its No. 2 position from February 2019, after selling 54,984 units in April 2019. The 110cc Jupiter continues to be a strong contributor to the TVS Motor Company’s monthly sales performance.
Meanwhile, the Suzuki Access 125 continues to see a demand in the market. The popular scooter retains its place as the third-highest-selling scooter on this list after it went home to 48,463 owners in April 2019. The Japanese company’s turnaround efforts are finally showing, as it continues to work on not only on its product portfolio but also the dealer development side.
Breathing down the Access’ neck at fourth place is the Honda Dio, which saw despatches of 46,501 units in April, just 1,962 units behind on the Suzuki's sales. Will the Dio ride ahead of the Access in the coming months? While the Access retains its strong family buyer appeal, the Dio has strong brand equity among young college-going buyers; Jharkhand, Karnataka and Maharashtra are strong markets. Interestingly, with a 44 percent export market share in the scooter segment, the Dio is also the most exported scooter from the country.
Taking the fifth spot on this list with 20,684 units is the TVS NTorq. The snazzy-looking TVS NTorq has a lot going for it, including its youthful appeal. Monthly volumes for the latest TVS 125cc scooter have stabilised at around 15,000-17,000 units – albeit April saw an impact on sales for the overall industry. The scooter is riding the growing wave of demand for 125cc scooters in India, so one may expect better numbers to come its way later, this year.
Likewise, consumer demand for the Hero Destini 125 continues to surge. The scooter’s aggressive pricing (under Rs 55,000, ex-showroom) appears to be working in favour of Hero MotoCorp. The youngest Hero scooter, at sixth place, sold a total of 16,301 units. The Destini has been positioned as a family scooter for a more mass-market appeal and the increase sales have proved that it worked.
No. 7 on this top 10 sales list is the Yamaha Fascino with 14,873 units, down two percent, YoY (April 2018: 15,164). Yamaha needs to do more if the uptick in demand is to be maintained, especially now that it has a direct rival in form of the new 110cc Hero Pleasure Plus.
Honda’s Grazia rides into this list at eighth position and a sales number of 11,823 units. This is a sharp decline of 119 percent YoY (April 2018: 25,949) when the scooter was at sixth place. This scooter had great expectations on its handlebars when it was launched. Clearly, though, this 125cc scooter's big numbers have yet to come.
Hero MotoCorp’s 102cc Pleasure scooter targets urban female commuters and secured wholesale volumes of 10,689 units in April 2019 – 61 percent down YoY (April 2019: 17,225). These are impressive numbers when you take into account that this scooter has remained unchanged for almost 14 years now.
Closing this list of 10 bestselling scooters in April 2019 is the Yamaha Ray with a sales figure of 10,336 units. This scooter made the news recently when it got updated with CBS and a new blacked-out colour scheme.
There is indeed a dampened market sentiment making an impact on customer demand in the Indian scooter market. This is highlighted by the numbers from a year ago. In April 2018, the Top 10 bestselling scooters in India sold a combined total of 6,05,082 units. This year, though, saw a drastic decline of 26.35 percent with a combined sales figure of 4,45,615 units in April 2019.
Azaman Chothia
Vishal Venugopal
