February two-wheeler sales drop further on rising fuel prices and chip shortage

Fuel prices, insurance costs, shortage of chips continue to keep retail sales muted.

02 Mar 2022 | 9945 Views | By Sricharan R

Two-wheeler sales continued to be in the red. Almost all major OEMs posted a degrowth in February with major issues like the rising fuel prices, insurance costs, shortage of chips were cited keeping sentiment muted.

It remains to be seen how fuel prices will move in the weeks and months ahead given the outbreak of war in the Ukraine.

Hero MotoCorp: 331,462 units/ - 32%
Hero MotoCorp sold 358,254 units including exports in February 2022, down 32 percent compared to February 2021. This tally comprised 338,454 units of motorcycles and 19,800 scooters. The company sold 505,467 units last February lcomprising 463,723 units for motorcycles and 41,744 units for scooters. For February 2022, domestic sales alone were 331,462 units and exports were 26,792 units. 

Exports in February were at 26,792 units compared to 21,034 units in February, 2021. Two-wheelers have been affected by rising fuel prices and insurance costs, as well the impact of the pandemic which has led to job losses in the smaller towns and cities.

Bajaj Auto: 96,532 units/ -35%

 Bajaj Auto had a 35 percent degrowth in the domestic sales with 96,532 units sales for February 2022. The company sold 148,934 units in February 2021. In the month of January 2022, Bajaj had sales of 135,496 units which is also a drop of 29%. Exports for the month were at 182,814 units compared to 183,629 units in the year-earlier month.. 

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India: 285,677 units / -31%
HMSI reported a 31 percent decline in February sales at 285,677 two-wheelers as compared to 411,622 units recorded in the same month last year.  The company has also enhanced its dealer network, with the opening of new centres in Hoshiarpur (Punjab), Rajahmundry (Andhra Pradesh), Belagavi (Karnataka) and Pune (Maharashtra), the company added. In terms of products, the company announced availability of H’ness CB350 & CB350RS at 35 CSD depots across the country.

TVS Motor Company: 281,714 units / -5%
TVS Motor Company registered a 5 percent drop in total sales to 281,714 units in February 2022 in comparison to  297,747 units last February. Total two-wheelers registered sales of 267,625 units in February 2022 as against sales of 284,581 units in February 2021.  Domestic two-wheeler registered sales of 173,198 units in February 2022 as against sales of 195,145 units in February 2021. The company in a statement said, "The shortage in chip supply impacted the production and sales of premium two-wheelers.”  Within the overall sales, the motorcycle segment grew by 5 percent increasing from 137,259 units in February 2021 to 143,523 units in February 2022.  Scooter sales of the company registered 86,616 units in February 2022 as against sales of 95,525 units in February 2021.

Suzuki Motorcycle India: 58603 units / - 3%
Suzuki Motorcycle India sold 58,603 units in the domestic market for February 2022, a 3.3 percent drop in the month-on-month sales. The company sold 60,623 units in January 2022. Also, 59,530 units were sold in the same period last year, a 1.5 percent drop.  The company also exported 13,597 units for the same month. Satoshi Uchida, Managing Director, Suzuki Motorcycle India said, “Despite the ongoing semiconductor availability constraints, we continue to keep our growth momentum in February, 2022. We are experiencing a strong demand both from the domestic and the export market.”

Royal Enfield: 52,135 units / -20%
Royal Enfield posted domestic wholesales of 52,135 units in February 2022, a drop of 20 percent as against sales of 65,114 units same time last year due to apparent headwinds from semiconductor shortages. The makers of the iconic range maintained that it continues to see recovery in the domestic market with increase in volume growth over last month. Royal Enfield had sales of 49,726 units in the domestic market in January this year. "Supply chain constraints due to the shortage of semiconductor chips continued to persist during the month and Royal Enfield is assiduously working with its supplier ecosystem to resolve the same" the company said in a statement.


 

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