India's Top 10 Motorcycles in 2015-16

Royal Enfield’s bestselling model – the Classic 350 – has entered the Top 10 list of India’s best-selling motorcycles in 2015-16 with sales of 276,853 units, 76 percent more than the previous fiscal when it sold 157,531 units.

First launched in 2009, the Classic 350 was brought in to change the company’s then plunging fortunes. Compared to its current sales, the company had sold close to 50,000 units for the 12-month period of 2010, which underlines the surge in the demand for Royal Enfield motorcycles over the past five years. In 2015-16, the Classic 350 accounted for 55 percent of the company’s overall sales of 508,124 units, which speaks volumes for the burgeoning demand.

Meanwhile the top half of the table was clustered with market-leader Hero MotoCorp occupying the top three slots and the 125cc Glamour beating Bajaj Auto’s Pulsar to the fifth place.

Not surprisingly, the Hero Splendor continued to be the best-selling motorcycle in the country with sales of 2,486,065 units (a slight decrease of around 31,000 units compared to the previous fiscal). Also posting negative sales was the company’s Passion series, which saw a 15 percent decline in year-on-year (YoY) sales (2014-15: 1,341,424 units | 2015-16: 1,139,576). This helped the company’s HF Deluxe brand to overtake the former for the second spot with a 6 percent rise in 2015-16 numbers (1,148,254 units).

However, the top achiever for Hero MotoCorp was the 125cc Glamour with sales of 679,147 units in 2015-16. The 23 percent rise in sales of the Glamour saw it jump three places from eighth in 2014-15 to fifth place. The 125cc segment has been dominated by Hero’s arch rival Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India’s (HMSI) CB Shine, currently occupying close to 50 percent of market share in the segment. The Glamour however gave the CB Shine a run for its money as it missed fourth place by 119,552 units. Moreover, Hero’s 125cc commuter bike has also managed to beat the CB Shine sales since February. The forthcoming fiscal promises to be an exciting one in terms of the 125cc segment market share. 

The sixth and seventh places belong to two Bajaj Auto products – Pulsar and CT 100 respectively. The company, which has outlined aggressive product plans for the upcoming year with a bigger Pulsar in the offing, had introduced the Pulsar RS200 last year in two variants including one equipped with ABS. The Pulsar, which is the company’s bestselling brand, accounted for sales of 618,371 units in 2015-16. Also making its entry into the top 10 list is the fuel-saving CT 100 commuter bike with sales of 590,067 units since its reintroduction in 2015.

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Behind the Bajaj products comes HMSI’s 110cc Dream series, which saw a significant decline as the company managed to sell 330,719 units in 2015-16 as compared to the 614,342 units it sold in 2014-15. In an attempt to boost the sales of its mass commuter motorcycle portfolio at the most affordable end, HMSI rolled out the CD 110 Dream DX last month.

Completing the list was Bajaj Auto’s all-time high efficient, fuel-savvy motorcycle – Platina – with sales of 275,276 units. Despite a 43 percent fall in the sales of the commuter motorcycle, it continues to occupy a place in the Top 10 largely due to its 96.9kpl mileage that intrigues Indian buyers.

The Indian two-wheeler industry saw overall sales of 16,455,911 units in 2015-16, an increase of 3.01 percent compared to the previous fiscal. A laggard in the two-wheeler market continued to be the motorcycle segment declining by 0.24 to 10,700,466 units.

However, the Met department predicting a normal monsoon this year, expect the fortunes of rural India to improve and in turn drive up demand for mass market commuter bikes which constitute nearly 60 percent of the overall motorcycle market.

Also read: 

- Top 10 fuel efficient motorcycles in India

- Top 10 Two-Wheelers in 2015-16

- Top 10 Passenger Vehicles in 2015-16