Two-wheeler sales cross one-million mark in Dec

Sales up 8.5%, growth in the two-wheeler segment has largely been driven by demand for scooters

Even as passenger vehicle manufacturers continue to slug it out amid adverse macroeconomic conditions in the domestic market, two-wheeler makers registered a growth of 8.5 per cent to close the year with monthly sales of over a million units in December 2013.

Four of the country’s leading two-wheeler manufacturers which reported sales numbers on Thursday sold 1,039,489 motorcycles and scooters last month, which is an increase of 8.5 per cent over 958,331 units sold in the year-ago period.

While market leader Hero MotoCorp registered a decline of 3.1 per cent to sell 524,990 units in December, the company said it achieved its record quarterly sales of 1.68 million units in the October-December period. (ZOOMING AHEAD)

The growth in the two-wheeler segment was largely driven by demand for scooters. While motorcycle sales for Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) grew by 18 per cent to 125,109 units during the month, off-take of scooters increased by a whopping 54 per cent to 171,035 units. At TVS Motor too, though sales of motorcycles declined by 4.4 per cent to 57,576 units, those of scooters picked up by 37 per cent at 41,817 units. Scooters Ray and Ray Z, in the meantime, boosted numbers for Yamaha Motor India whose overall sales went up by 37 per cent to 64,997 units.

Companies in the passenger vehicle industry did not fare as well. Sales of Tata Motors dropped by nearly 35 per cent to 9,272 units during the month.

Honda Cars India, however, bucked the industry trend on back of the new launch Amaze to post growth of 29.5 per cent with sales of 5,493 units last month. Amaze contributed as much as 81 per cent to the sales tally of the company.