Eicher Motors cracks 6% as Hero Moto-Harley Davidson tie up for X440 bike

Priced at Rs 2.29 lakh, X440 motorbike will directly compete with Eicher Motors' Royal Enfield Classic 350's starting price of Rs 1.93 lakh and the Hunter 350's Rs 1.5 lakh

Shares of Eicher Motors crashed as much as 6.3 per cent on the BSE in Tuesday's intra-day trade as US-based Harley Davidson partnered with Hero MotoCorp to launch its most-affordable motorbike X440 to take on Eicher's Royal Enfield.

At 2:10 PM, shares of the two-wheeler maker were hovering close to the day's low level at Rs 3,404 apiece (down 6.2 per cent) as against a 0.48 per cent rise in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex. The BSE Auto index was also 0.4 per cent lower.

On the onther hand, shares of Hero MotoCorp surged 3.4 per cent in the intra-day trade. 

 

On Monday, the US cruiser motorbike maker launched the X440 priced in the range of Rs 2.29 lakh to Rs 2.69 lakh (ex-showroom). With this, it will directly compete with Eicher Motors' Royal Enfield Classic 350's starting price of Rs 1.93 lakh and the Hunter 350's Rs 1.5 lakh.

At present, Harley-Davidson motorcycles are available at a price of Rs 17.49 lakh for the 975cc Nightster.

"Hero MotoCorp is set to open the bookings for its first co-developed premium motorcycle with iconic American motorcycle-maker Harley-Davidson – the Harley-Davidson X440 across India starting July 4, 2023 from 4:40 PM onwards. Harley-Davidson X440 can be booked with a booking amount of Rs 5,000. Additionally, customers can also reserve the Harley-Davidson X440 at all Harley Davidson dealerships and select Hero MotoCorp outlets across the country," Hero Moto said in an exchange filing on Tuesday.

Global brokerage Nomura maintained its 'neutral' rating on Hero MotoCorp with a target of Rs 2,870 per share. "The new Harley X440 is launched at attractive pricing, and will be the most affordable Harley Davidson bike in India," it reasoned.

June Auto sales

On July 1, Eicher Motor announced that sales of its 350cc bikes increased 36 per cent year-on-year to 68,664 units in June, 2023. For the first quarter of FY24, sales were up 30 per cent to 2,02,430 units.

However, sales of bikes with more than 350cc engine fell 23 per cent YoY in June to 8,445 units. Total sales, thus, increased 26 per cent YoY, while exports fell 14 per cent YoY in June. 

For the quarter, total domestic sales were up 22 per cent, while exports fell 31 per cent.

As regards Hero MotoCorp, its bike sales declined 12 per cent YoY to 404,474 units in June.