Leading carmakers Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai on Thursday reported a dip in wholesales in July as companies reduced vehicle dispatches to dealers amid moderation in demand. Maruti Suzuki India said its total domestic passenger vehicle sales stood at 137,463 units in July against 152,126 units in the year-ago month, down 9.64 per cent.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) on Wednesday forayed into the fast-growing domestic electric mobility market with the introduction of e-scooters, ACTIVA e: and QC1, with swappable and fixed batteries. With this, the Japanese two-wheeler maker will now be competing with other legacy players such as Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, TVS Group as well as pure EV players like Ather and Ola, who already have a good presence in the segment, which is growing at 34 per cent year-on-year.
Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors reported a decline in wholesales in September as the companies curtailed dispatches to dealers to reduce inventory build-up amid a decline in demand. Maruti Suzuki India reported a 4 per cent dip in total domestic passenger vehicle wholesales last month to 144,962 units compared to 150,812 units in the year-ago month. The auto major said sales of mini segment cars, comprising Alto and S-Presso, grew marginally to 10,363 units against 10,351 units in September 2023.
Japanese auto giant Honda on Monday announced to recall 11,500 units of Standard variant of its premium motorcycle CBR 250R, which were produced and sold in India, due to defective brake system.
The company is looking to ramp up its production.
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The two-wheeler segment has shown signs of recovery in the first half (H1) of calendar year (CY) 2024, largely driven by improving performance in rural areas. According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations, rural contribution to two-wheeler sales surged by 57-60 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2024-25, indicating a rising demand in these regions. Experts believe that this trend will continue, supported by a favourable monsoon season and government initiatives aimed at rural development.
The battle for the top spot in the two-wheeler market is intensifying. The gap between Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) in retail sales narrowed to just 45,607 units in June. This improvement comes as HMSI has clawed back market share after dipping to a historic low of 18 per cent in May 2023. Now, the retail market shares of the two companies are 28.86 per cent and 25.54 per cent, respectively, compared to 35.54 per cent and 18.05 per cent in May 2023.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) today launched a new variant of its 150 cc bike - CB Unicorn Dazzler, priced up to Rs 66,198 (ex-showroom, Delhi).
Passenger vehicle sales are expected to experience muted growth in the current financial year.
Leading automakers Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors on Friday reported robust sales for February as demand for sports utility vehicles continued to remain strong. Mahindra & Mahindra, Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Honda Cars also witnessed higher vehicle dispatches to dealers last month. February turned out to be the third-best month for sales for the industry ever.
Hero MotoCorp, India's largest two-wheeler maker, has seen a decline in its market share in rural areas since 2018, losing ground to major competitors such as TVS Motor Company, Bajaj Auto, and Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI), according to data from JATO Dynamics reviewed by Business Standard. Hero's share of rural two-wheeler sales in India has dropped from 40.4 per cent in 2018 to 33.3 per cent in 2023. In contrast, Bajaj's share increased from 12.7 per cent in 2018 to 13.9 per cent, HMSI's from 21.8 per cent to 22.2 per cent, and TVS' from 15.5 per cent to 17.8 per cent. Suzuki Motorcycle India has also seen its share rise from 1.7 per cent to 2.5 per cent.
The new financial year started on a mixed note for car makers.
How does Honda's cheapest entrant fare against Hero Splendor Plus, Bajaj Discover 100 and Suzuki Hayate?
Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India are headed for a showdown in the scooter market with the former partners looking to dominate the high growth segment.
It has sought the permission of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to start single-brand retail outlets.
HMSI has increased the monthly salary of its permanent workers by Rs 14,770 a month.
Can paying Akshay Kumar Rs 50 crore to become brand ambassador for the 100cc commuter bike, the Dream Yuga, help Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (Private) Ltd take the number one position by displacing Hero MotoCorp's hot-selling splendor? Of course not, feels biking enthusiast and blogger Faisal Ali Khan.
HMSI is now planning to introduce a 200cc bike that would battle with Hero Honda's Karizma and Karizma ZMR.
Meanwhile, HMSI has raised its production capacity to 15 lakh units per year with the recent inauguration of its third assembly line.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI), the wholly-owned two-wheeler subsidiary of Japan's Honda Motor Company, on Wednesday launched its new 'Aviator' model scooter with 15 per cent increased fuel efficiency, in Mumbai.The ex-showroom price is Rs 50,410 for its deluxe model and Rs 45,180 for its standard model.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt Ltd (HMSI) will set up its second plant in Rajasthan at an investment of Rs 1,100 crore (Rs 11 billion) with an installed capacity to produce 12 lakh units per annum.
VFR1200F is a concept driven by extensive customer needs", said Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India president and chief executive officer Shinji Aoyama.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, fully owned Indian subsidiary of the Japanese firm, launched on Friday a new version of its gearless scooter Activa, priced at Rs 39,800 (ex-showroom, Delhi). The company would focus on gearless scooters in the future and with the launch of the new Activa, HMSI is looking at a total of 18 per cent growth in its two wheeler sales in the next fiscal, 2009-10.
Automotive retail sales saw a 14 per cent rise in March on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, according to data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA). For the whole of financial year 2022-23 (FY23), sales grew 21 per cent YoY. For both March and the financial year, all categories, except for tractors, and including two-wheelers, three-wheelers, passenger vehicles (PVs), and commercial vehicles (CVs), posted double-digit growth. However, the total retail sales of 22.1 million for the financial year were still 12 per cent lower than the pre-Covid (FY20) level of 25 million, owing to an 18 per cent dip in the two-wheeler segment.
Honda is all set to launch the CBR650F alongwith mutliple other motorcycles at the Honda RevFest 2015 that will be held simultaneously across 8 cities (New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Indore and Ahmedabad) on August 4, 2015.
"We sold 16.85 lakh units in FY 2011. In the current fiscal, we plan to increase it to 21 lakh units. We will continue to grow faster than industry. The turnover is also expected to jump to Rs 7,500 crore (Rs 75 billion) this year," company head sales N K Rattan said in New Delhi at the launch of the bike CBR 250R.
The company also plans to introduce a 100 cc bike by the end of 2010. HMSI has a current market share of 11 per cent and is expecting to raise the figure to 15 per cent by 2010. Asked if the company has plans to phase out its scooter Eterno, Rattan said, "Though the sale of Eterno has come down, we do not have any plan to stop the production, rather we will revamp its sale with new strategies".
HMSI is the biggest player in scooter market with a share of 60 per cent
Even as India overtakes Japan in automotive sales in 2022, moving to third place for the first time, oddly enough the country's biggest motor show is going to see some big hitters give it a clear miss. Some prominent automotive brands have cited high event costs, negligible returns on investment, poor event management, and unfavourable location as reasons for their reluctance to participate. Major pure-play electric two-wheelers, too, are riding past this year's edition of the Auto Expo.
The Honda NAVI is completely customisable as per the customer's choice.
Mopeds are sought by people with smaller businesses, with their weight-carrying and haulage ability beside being lighter and easy to manoeuvre in traffic.
The stand-off at the facility, which employs around 1,900 permanent workers and 2,500 contract workers, began on November 5 morning when the company management did not allow some of the contractual workers to go inside the plant.
Market leader Maruti Suzuki India's passenger vehicles sales declined by 2.34 per cent last month at 133,702 units. Hero MotoCorp reported total two-wheeler sales of 480,196 units last month, down 20.05 per cent.
Data issued by Siam shows sale of PVs (cars, vans and utility vehicles) grew 14.3 per cent to 275,417 vehicles.
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