With the introduction of Covid-19 vaccines around the corner, an increase in economic activity and the opening up of academic institutions, sales of scooters too will gain traction, said Yadvinder Singh Guleria, director (sales and marketing) at Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, the country’s second-largest two-wheeler maker. While motorcycles sales have grown in strong double-digits in the past four months, demand for scooters was muted in urban areas. Local two-wheeler sales have dropped by a fourth to 9.64 million units till November 2020.
“The proportion of urban buying is bigger for us as the contribution of scooter sales in our overall portfolio is higher. Business really started in urban areas September-October onwards. Once colleges, educational institutes start opening next year, campus activity will go up, supporting demand for scooters,” Guleria said. Honda Motorcycle reported a 32% decline in sales to 2.4 million units in the domestic market from April to November, with its market share shrinking to 24.9% from 27.5% a year earlier.
The company, which registers more than 60% of its sales from scooters, has decided to go ahead with launches scheduled in 2021 to regain volumes lost due to the Covid-19-induced nationwide lockdown earlier this year. Guleria declined to provide details but said the launches will be spread across segments. Honda Motorcycle expects to end 2020 on a positive note with retail sales this month higher than a year ago.
“In Q4, the base will be low as the industry at the start of the year was transitioning to implement BS-VI emission standards. Manufacturers were ramping down production, stocks were low,” Guleria said. The rise in commodity prices, though, is proving to be a headwind. Automakers from Maruti Suzuki to Mahindra & Mahindra and Hero MotoCorp have already announced price increases in the new year. Guleria said Honda Motorcycle too is looking at increasing prices in 2021.
