March Two-wheeler Sales Report: COVID-19 Lockdown Affects Industry
Two-wheeler manufacturers severely hit by the enforced lockdown
Two-wheeler manufacturers severely hit by the enforced lockdown
March 2020 has been one of the roughest months that the Indian automobile industry has had to face. With the government taking drastic measures to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting shutdown of factories and dealerships has translated low sales numbers. The lockdown did the dealers no favours, as most manufacturers were gearing up for the BS6 deadline. The extension of the deadline will do little to improve the mood. Many manufacturers still have plenty of BS4 two-wheelers with their dealers but they are only allowed to sell 10 per cent of this remaining stock. Here’s how has each manufacturer fared this past month:
Royal Enfield
Royal Enfield became the first two-wheeler manufacturer to clear off its BS4 inventory. The company claims that none of its dealers have any existing BS4 units left. In the span of just 20 odd days of March, RE sold 32,630 bikes in India, which is a massive drop in numbers considering that it sold 58,434 bikes in March 2019. The exports business has seen a spike but it is inconsequential to the overall sales of the brand.
TVS
TVS’s slump is well quantified by the number of units it sold in March 2020, just 1,33,988 two-wheelers sold in total. In comparison, the Hosur-based manufacturer was able to sell 3,10,885 two-wheelers a year ago. TVS has said that its dealers are already well equipped to handle the demand of new motorcycles once the lockdown is lifted with almost all of its BS4 products sold off already. While a couple of models like the Scooty Pep Plus, the Apache RTR 180 and the Sport did get their BS6 updates, there are still a few TVS two-wheelers (Wego, Victor and Scooty Zest) yet to make the transition to BS6 norms.
Suzuki
Even though Suzuki has managed to end the FY 2019-20 on a positive note, the past month was not great for the Japanese bike maker. It did launch the Intruder BS6 but we expected it to announce the prices of the Gixxer 250 and the Gixxer SF 250 as well. Expect that to take place later this month.