Honda Edges Past Hero as Festive Retail Lags a Record Base

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India led October’s two-wheeler retail market with 6,37,630 units and a 27.47 percent share, up from 26.26 percent in October 2025. Its retails fell 25.06 percent year-on-year. Hero MotoCorp followed with 5,98,433 units and a 25.78 percent share. Its volumes dropped 40.56 percent from 10,06,796 units a year earlier, when it led Honda by about 1.56 lakh units. Hero’s share fell from 31.07 percent. Honda now leads by about 39,000 units.

FADA calls this a 'calendar effect'. Total two-wheeler retail was 23,21,419 units, down 28.35 percent from 32,39,949 a year ago but up 29.67 percent from September. FADA president Sai Giridhar called the year-on-year decline “almost entirely optical.” October 2025 carried both Navratri and Diwali, along with pent-up demand after the GST 2.0 rate cuts. This year Navratri fell in October, while Dhanteras (November 6) and Diwali (November 8) fall in November. FADA also noted that October was still the second-best October on record for two-wheelers, with year-to-date FY27 retail up 7.81 percent at 1,33,79,362 units.

The rural fall is steeper. Rural two-wheeler retail fell 33.97 percent year-on-year, against 20.77 percent in urban markets. FADA reads this as demand deferred to November rather than lost. Dealers also flagged localised rural stress from deficient rains and a weak kharif crop, and the fading of last year’s GST price advantage after manufacturer price increases.

Dealers are cautiously optimistic. In FADA’s survey, 51.65 percent of dealers expect growth in November. About 31 percent said the first repo-rate increase in over three years was having a moderate or material effect on financing costs and EMIs.

TVS Motor Company retailed 4,58,303 units (down 19.93 percent), lifting its share to 19.74 percent from 17.67 percent. Bajaj Auto recorded 2,09,634 units (down 37.47 percent) and a 9.03 percent share, from 10.35 percent a year ago. Royal Enfield retailed 1,23,982 units for a 5.34 percent share, followed by Suzuki Motorcycle India at 1,20,931 units (5.21 percent) and India Yamaha Motor at 79,001 units (3.40 percent).

Electric players gain share. EVs made up 9.65 percent of two-wheeler retail, against 4.66 percent a year ago (11.58 percent in September). By my calculation from FADA’s shares, that is about 2.24 lakh electric two-wheelers, up roughly 48 percent year-on-year and about 8 percent from September. FADA said EV retail across all categories hit an all-time high of about 3.55 lakh units, up 44.88 percent, and that availability rather than demand was the binding constraint. Ather Energy recorded 31,833 units and a 1.37 percent share, up from 0.93 percent. Ola Electric retailed 12,098 units, down about 26 percent, though its share edged up to 0.52 percent from 0.51 percent. Greaves Electric Mobility recorded 10,839 units (up about 40 percent), River Mobility 6,817 units (up nearly 274 percent) and BGauss 5,556 units (up about 81 percent).