The easiest way perhaps to get from one place to another, is by two wheelers. Even before the advent of hundreds of cars on roads today, two wheelers have helped us get places. They are not only characterized with their effortless ease in getting to the ideal destination, but also saves a lot of parking space, and is perfect for romantic getaways and dodging through traffic. Driving a two wheeler like a pro has always been a guy's dream. Brands like Hayabusa and Harley Davidson have always captured a special place in the hearts of two wheeler lovers.
The Two wheeler segment is characterized by three kinds of vehicles: Motorcycles, Scooters and Mopeds. Their share over the past year has been a wavy graph with motorcycles obviously capturing the top position in the two wheeler market share. But, January 2015 saw a decrease in 5% from their 70% market share January the previous year.
Scooters on the other hand, have witnessed an escalation in their market share from 25 to 30% over the past year with brands like Maruti Suzuki and TVS bagging the top place. Sale of scooters have shooted up since January 2014. It may also be explained as a balance in the decrease of motorcycles' share in the Two wheeler segment.
As Newton rightly said, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
The market share of Mopeds have however remained flat and have seen a subtle decrease from 5% market share in January 2015 to a meagre 4% in January the following year.
Unlike car sales, there is a clear major market snatcher in the two wheeler industry. Manufacturers like Hero, Honda and TVS clearly dominate the industry with the maximum of two wheelers sold in the past year.
Hero has emerged as the leader with almost 554 thousand units sold in the January of 2014. However, sales have seen a subtle decrease to 546 thousand units in the January of 2015.
Honda, on the other hand has seen a triumphant increase from 331 thousand units in January 2014 to 378 units January the following year.
TVS has maintained standard similar sales over the year by selling 162 thousand units in January 2015, 6 more than January the previous year.
New improvements and design features introduced by Bajaj were proved unsuccessful with their decrease in sales from 168 thousand units in January 2014 to 129 thousand units in January 2015.
One of the major two wheeler manufacturers, Yamaha has seen a marginal increase in sales from 32 thousand units to 39 thousand units over the past year.
Brands like Suzuki have maintained their name and have recorded an increase in sales from 26 to 30 thousand units over the previous year. Royal Enfield has also seen many admirers which sales revolting from 20 to 28 thousand units in the same year.
Mahindra, however has recorded a humungous decline in sale from 25 to 12 thousand units the past year. It follows that there has been a dwindling of sales by almost two times.
High end brands like Piaggio, Harley Davidson, Kawasaki and Triumph have also noted a very slight increase in sales from January 2014 to January 2015.
Scooter sales have been predominated by Honda with almost a 29% increase in sales over the past year. Hero is also a close competitor and has recorded significant increase in sales of their scooters last year. They have recorded a 19% increase in their sales. TVS scooter sales have also seen an upsurge in the time between and January the 2015, characterized by a 28.5% increase in the same.
Suzuki however have gone down the charts by with a 1.4% decrease in sales over the past year. Manufacturers like Yamaha, Mahindra and Piaggio have seen flat times with their sales.
The Scooter segment is the most desired by kids and adolescents, and recent times have seen various models coming up with their attractive designs, colors, features and performance specifications. They are backed by strong commercialization and promotional advertisements.
Honda emerges as the pioneer of this segment with a 54.7% market share, whose share has only increased the following January of 2015 by almost 2%. The Market share of Hero has however seen a slight decline from 20% market share in January 2014 to 19% in January of the following year. TVS has recorded a meagre increase from 13.5 to 13.8% of market share over the past year, dated from January 2014 to January 2015.
Suzuki's decreased sales in the previous graph can be visually proved by its decreased market share from 7.5% to 5.9% the same year. Yamaha has also noted a slight decrease in it's market share from 2.9 to 2.8% over the same period of time. In contrast, Mahindra and Piaggio have seen plateau-ic times with their flat share in the market.
Hero has been categorized as the front runners of this section, which is not surprising as they have led the race in the Scooter segment too. Their sales in the Motorcycle, however has dipped by a whole 4.1% from January 2014 to January 2015.
Honda follows by a huge gap and has also witnessed a decline of 3% over the same period of time. Bajaj has witnessed a cataclysmic decrease in sales by a stupendous 23% over the past year. TVS,Royal Enfield and Yamaha manufacturers have been blessed with some positive times with significant increase in sales in the previous year, whereas manufacturers like Mahindra, Harley Davidson and Kawasaki enjoy their select few customers.
It is evident that Hero are the pioneers of this segment too, with a flabbergasting 53% market share as of January 2014 which has managed to dip by only 1% the following year. Honda has managed an almost steady percentage of market share of 17% in the previous year. Bajaj has suffered a loss in their market share from 18.2% in January 2014 to 14.8% in January the following year.
Manufacturers like TVS, Royal Enfield and Yamaha have managed to scrape through with their market shares in the year, but brands like Suzuki, Mahindra, Harley Davidson, Kawasaki and Triumph have barely managed to make a stand in their segment.
Like all automobiles, the two wheeler industry is also faced with insecurities and variations and somehow, Hero has surpassed the boundaries to emerge as the clear winner of this segment.
Read: Indian Two Wheeler Market Overview 2014
Source: Autobei, SIAM
I work very close with a new company that has a state of the art scooter in production and is looking for some talent right now. If you or anyone you know would be interested in coming to Ann Arbor, MI for a direct role as a Lead Systems Engineer or a Supplier Quality Engineer. Please contact me via email at brandon.vosburgh at techmahindra.com
Brandon Vosburgh
Tech Mahindra
Sr. Recruiter, Greater Detroit Area
USA
I´m interested to hear more! Does Mahindra see the U.S. as a major growth area for scooters? If so mostly targeted to to east coast, west coast or more widely (Ann Arbor itself an exception to the region)?
Hill-Young, Gregory
Senior Designer – General Motors Europe
Frankfurt Am Main Area, Germany