Mid-size SUVs, deluxe commuter bikes outshine peers, shows SIAM data

Among the two wheelers, motorcycles in the 150cc to 200cc segment have been the outliers

The Covid-19 pandemic may have dented the overall auto market, but there are certain segments within each category that have not only stayed the course but seen an accelerated demand.
 
Unlike the perception, all of these do not belong to the entry level of the market but a segment that commands premium pricing.
 
Buyers in India have taken a liking to mid-size SUVs and deluxe commuter motorcycles (150cc to 200cc), according to the past three months’ sales trend from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
 
“Under the current circumstances, the instinctive would be to go for the cheapest. But we aren’t seeing that,” said Ravi Bhatia, president and director at JATO Dynamics.
 
It has got to do with the manufacturers making even the lower trim variants feature-packed, says Bhatia. Value-conscious and novelty-seeking buyers are open to stretching their wallet a bit more. This has been propelling the premiumisation trend in the market, he said.
 
Albeit on a small base, volumes of SUVs less than Rs 20 lakh have seen a year-on-year jump of 46.02 per cent in the three months to August. This is in contrast to the overall passenger vehicle market that saw a marginal dip of 0.6 per cent. It is primarily being led by the Creta and Seltos.
 
Among the two-wheelers, motorcycles in 150cc to 200cc have been the outliers. Led by TVS Apache, it advanced 10 per cent even as the overall two-wheeler segment skidded 17.5 per cent.

 
At the lower end of the price band in the two-wheeler segment, the moped, made by TVS Motor has held on to its turf in a tough market. Its volumes during the three-month period rose 6.2 per cent to 169,149 units over the corresponding period.
 
Meanwhile, the commercial vehicle market that has its fortunes linked to the economy has hardly shown any signs of recovery and double-digit decline continues.
 
The smaller tonnage vehicles have started picking up, said Vinod Aggarwal, managing director and chief executive at Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles. “It is being driven by demand in rural markets and improving CNG infrastructure, which in turn has been fuelling demand for CNG vehicles that are cheaper to run,” he said.
 
The sub-segments — light commercial and small commercial vehicles — have declined lesser, compared to higher tonnage ones during the three-month period. Ashok Leyland, for instance, has been seeing a sequential growth in the LCVs. It has increased to 3,736 in August from 1,154 in May.
 
Nitin Seth, chief operating officer of Ashok Leyland, said the e-commerce, small goods transporters have pushed sales of LCVs and it now accounts for a 70 per cent of total commercial vehicle sales.
 
“A decade ago, LCVs used to account for 35-40 per cent of the country’s overall CV sales. This increased to 70 per cent, in line with global trends,” said Seth. It has gone up further to 86 per cent after the pandemic and he expects it to settle at 70-72 per cent.