Honda Activa is India’s best-selling two-wheeler in August 2015

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India’s (HMSI’s) Activa scooter has beaten Hero MotoCorp’s (HMCL) Splendor brand of commuter motorcycles for the third month in a row to be the best-selling two- wheeler in India in August 2015.

While the top six slots are sealed by HMSI and HMCL, TVS Motor Company and Bajaj Auto follow to occupy two slots each in the list of top 10 best sellers for the month.

The Honda Activa (along with its family of three models) secured total monthly sales of 217,819 units last month, which made it the highest selling two-wheeler model in the country. The scooter, which commenced sales in 2001 as the only scooter model at HMSI’s dealerships then, still continues to see growing popularity in the domestic market.

The Honda Activa models have overpowered the monthly sales of Hero MotoCorp’s bestselling motorcycle brand – the Hero Splendor that comes in five models – Super Splendor, Splendor iSmart, Splendor Pro Classic, Splendor Pro and Splendor Plus.

Hero MotoCorp sold a total of 181,993 units of all models put together under its Splendor brand during August 2015. However, in August 2014, the Honda Activa occupied the second- largest selling two-wheeler spot (193,674 units), after the best-selling Hero Splendor motorcycles, which had then sold 223,765 units.

This change can be attributed to a few factors such as consistent growth of the Activa year after year and falling sales in the mass commuter motorcycle market, primarily due to erratic monsoons and delayed festive season this year.

In a recent conversation with Autocar Professional, Y S Guleria, senior vice-president, sales & marketing, HMSI, had said: “We see customers who have 10 Activas in one family. They would have bought their first Activa scooter in 2001 and they still continue to buy the same while their old Activas also continue to run.”

It is known that the Activa has seen notable transitions such as evolution from Tuff-up tubes to tubeless tyres (first in the two-wheeler segment in India), enhancing the fuel economy by 20 percent by introducing HET technology, increasing the displacement from 100cc to 110cc and eventually to 125cc for better power delivery, improving on the design language and many other areas.

Further, to tap into the growing class of female commuters, HMSI rolled out the lightweight Activa-i model (deluxe variant with floral graphics) earlier this year. Interestingly, HMSI is adding close to 75,000 female buyers (across all models) to their family every month.

According to Guleria, these factors have helped the company maintain the growth momentum of this model since 2001.

The third and fourth positions remain unchanged with Hero’s other popular mass motorcycle brands – Passion and HF Deluxe ranking in that order. While the Passion models sold a total of 81,529 units, the HF Deluxe, a popular model in the rural pockets of India, contributed to HMCL’s monthly numbers with sales of 80,871 units during August 2015.

HMSI’s second product, the 125cc best seller in executive commuter motorcycle category, the CB Shine occupies the fifth slot with sales of 63,590 units during the last month. HMCL’s 125cc Glamour variants rank sixth with sales of 55,944 units during the month.

Breaking into the best-sellers list, for the seventh position is the two-stroke, 70cc moped from TVS Motor Company, the TVS XL Super, which sells well in the rural pockets of the southern and western Indian states. The company sold a total of 55,132 units of this high-mileage model.

Bajaj Auto’s popular Pulsar brand commands the eighth position. It sold a total of 52,193 units during the last month. While the company currently sells eight models under its Pulsar umbrella, the 135cc and the 150cc Pulsar models together account for close to 70 percent of total Pulsar sales. The Pulsar 135LS and Pulsar 150 together sold 35,001 units during August 2015.

TVS Motor’s 109.7cc Jupiter scooter is the ninth best-selling model for August 2015. It sold 46,614 units during the last month. Bajaj Auto’s mass commuter, the 99cc CT100 occupies the 10^thposition with its sales contribution of 38,412 units during the month.

Also read:

- Top 10 Passenger Vehicles sold in August '15

- INDIA SALES ANALYSIS AUGUST 2015