The battle in the booming scooter market is getting stronger, albeit from No 2 onwards in the monthly Top 10 sales chart.

While the Honda Activa remains the best-selling scooter as well as two-wheeler in the country with a humungous 234,767 units in June, the competition between the other models from the stables of Honda, TVS Motor, Hero MotoCorp, India Yamaha and Suzuki keeps getting fiercer across different regions and markets.

The TVS Jupiter has seen a smart run of demand coming its way over the past year and June saw it sell 60,570 units, which sees it maintain No. 2 position. Although the 110cc TVS Jupiter has started outselling Hero’s 110cc Maestro consistently, the latter is now fiercely competing with Honda’s Dio month-on-month.

In May 2017, the Honda Dio ranked third, outselling the Hero Maestro by 6,000 units but in June the Hero scooter outsold the Activa sibling with a lead of 12,000 units.

The Hero Maestro sold 38,822 units last month, up by an impressive 60 percent YoY and bagged the third rank from rival Honda Dio.

The Honda Dio, which is now pushed to fourth rank, sold 26,890 units in June, up by 1.75 percent YoY but down by almost 35 percent month-on-month.

The Suzuki Access 125 is the fifth largest selling scooter in June with sales of 26,511 units. The model has registered a dramatic uptick of 77.59 percent in its YoY sales, thanks to the new improved avatar of the model launched early last year. It is also understood that the Access 125 is the highest-selling scooter model for Suzuki in all of Asia.

At No. 6 is the 110cc Hero Duet which sold 20,341 units last month, down by 15.31 percent YoY. Yet another Hero scooter, 100cc Pleasure ranks seventh with sales of 16,319 units, up by 33.48 percent YoY.

At number eight is Yamaha’s bestselling scooter, 113cc Fascino, which sold 16,024 units in June, down by 12.98 percent YoY. Interestingly, in the months of high demand, the model has fetched monthly sales of more than 25,000 units. The Fascino, along with the Yamaha Ray, which takes last position in the Top 10 scooters chart with sales of 12,972 units in June, will play an instrumental role in steering Yamaha towards achieving its sales target of one million units in CY2017.

TVS Motor’s Pep+ is the ninth bestselling scooter with sales of 13,060 units in June.

Compare the Top 10 charts of June 2016 and June 2017 and you will find that only the Honda Aviator has moved out, a position which the TVS Pep+ has taken.

With the scooter segment a most happening one at present, and set to get bigger with demand rising from rural India, competition is set to further spice up in the coming months as a result of a gaggle of new products slated for launch in the coming months.

Scooters are to the overall two-wheeler market what SUVs are to the passenger vehicle market. It is the segment's month-on-month growth which has got OEMs excited. With the festive season barely two months away, expect some new product launch announcements soon. Watch this space for more updates on two wheels and more.  

Also read: Scooters power two-wheeler industry growth in Q1 FY2018

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