This November witnessed the sales in motorcycle segment drop for the second consecutive month, reveals data from manufacturers. Even, the comments from industry executives suggest a drop in the motorcycle sales in the last month. Notably, this consecutive decline in the sales has come after the industry received modest gains for 14 months.
On the whole, the sales of two wheelers are likely to be in the acceptable territory though the sales of scooter are surging constantly.
It was in October this year that the Motorcycle sales witnessed a dip by 8.8 percent as compared to the same period in 2013. But, it was during this time that the manufacturers and industry experts expected to witnesses bumper sales owing to the festive season. This drop also continued in November and the dispatches from factories are believed to have dropped by 3.1 percent that is 8.5 lakh units in comparison to the last year.
The decline in motorcycle sales for the second straight month during and after the festive season has been major steeper on the retail front. The retail sales usually witnesses a fall of 35 percent to 40 percent month on month in November as October is a festival month. But, this year the drop has hit the motorcycle industry by 45 percent to 48 percent that is a significant rise.
Talking about the Indian motorcycle market, the major sales drivers are customers from rural regions including farmers. The rural area sales contribute to 46 percent of sales for Hero MotoCorp, 40 percent for Bajaj Auto and 35 percent of Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India respectively. As the monsoon is delayed and weak this year, it has left a major impact on the rural consumer sentiment and purchase decisions. Indirectly this has left the motorcycle industry struggling for the second consecutive month as the aforementioned manufacturers could not sell good numbers owning to low sentiment among customers.
