Hero sees 5% fall, TVS sales grow 5% in December

Eicher clocks 42 per cent jump

Hero MotoCorp, the country's largest two-wheeler manufacturer, reported a five per cent drop in sales (domestic and exports) in December against December 2014.

The company despatched 499,665 units in the last month against 526,097 units in the same month previous year. While Hero's volumes continued to decline, TVS reported a modest single-digit growth in domestic sales. TVS Motor Company, the third largest player in domestic market, saw its sales increase about five per cent in December, helped by high growth in scooter sales. Sales of scooters grew 21.4 per cent to 65,090 units compared to over last December. Motorcycles sales increased from 70,573 units in December 2014 to 71,435 units in December 2015.

Eicher Motors continued to see sharp double digit growth in December as well. The maker of Royal Enfield bullet saw domestic sales increase by 42 per cent to 40,037 units. Exports, which are a fraction of domestic sales, declined nine per cent last month to 416 units. Eicher'a bullets continue to see strong demand in domestic market, evident in the three-four month waiting period. It has been a challenging year for two wheeler manufacturers as demand for motorcycles took a hit due to weakness in rural demand.

In the April-November period of the current financial year, sales of motorcycles declined over two per cent to 7.29 million units. Scooters, however, grew over 12 per cent in the same period to 3.32 million units, helping the two-wheeler segment to post a marginal growth of 1.69 per cent.

Players including Honda Motorcycle, Scooter India and Bajaj Auto have not declared the December sales.