Two-wheelers in the slow lane

Two wheeler sales fell in December 2021 as rural demand, impacted by the second covid wave in the April-June 2021 quarter, is yet to show signs of revival. This is in contrast to December last year when sales showed an uptick on the back of good monsoons, as well as the gradual lifting of the lockdown in several states.

Hero MotoCorp saw a 12 percent decline in domestic sales logging 374,485 units in December 2021 as against 425,033 in December 2020. Export numbers were down nine percent for the month to 20,288 units compared to 22,302 in December 2020.

Bajaj Auto closed the calendar with sales of 127,593 units In December, down nearly one percent from its December 2020 tally of 126,642 units. Its export numbers fell 9% at 1,91,176 units as against 2,09,942 units in December 2020. 

While TVS Motor saw its December sales fall 17 percent to 146,763 units as against 176,912 units in December 2020, its export numbers provided a silver lining to the month’s performance with a rise of close to nine percent with 88,629 units sold as against 81,327 in December 2020. 

Royal Enfield’s December sales were flat with 65,187  units sold as compared to 65,492 units in December 2020), down by half a percent. On the export front, 8,552 units were sold as against 3503 units in December 2020, up by 144%.  

With the country seeing increasing cases on Omicron especially in key states such as Maharashtra, it remains to be seen how the sales will pan out in the last quarter of the current fiscal.