Motorcycle sales zoom up in Oct

The sales of motorcycles continued unabated in October with all the two-wheeler makers reporting better sales. India’s No 1 motorcycle ...

The sales of motorcycles continued unabated in October with all the two-wheeler makers reporting better sales. India’s No 1 motorcycle maker, Hero Honda said that its sales have increased by 24.5% to 1,65,066 motorcycles during October 2002 from 1,32,526 units in the same month last year.

Hero Honda said the sales were also higher by 23.1% as compared to 1,33,992 units sold in September. For the first seven months this fiscal, sales went up by 29.2% to 9,94,363 units from 7,69,344 units a year ago, he said.

Number 2 Bajaj Auto said its two-wheeler sales fell by a marginal 0.6% in October 2002 due to a decline in scooter sales even as motorcycles recorded positive growth during the month. Bajaj’s total two-wheeler sales went down to 1,16,675 units from 1,17,358 units in October last year.

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Similarly, TVS said for the second consecutive month, the sales of two wheelers from the TVS Motors stable have crossed one lakh units in October. The company has sold 1,00,220 units in October with motorcycles particularly its highly successful brand ‘Victor’ dominating the total sales.

Bajaj’s sale of motorcycles jumped by 21.5% year-on-year at 82,913 units against 68,187 units. However the Pune-based firm’s sale of geared scooters, however, fell by 37.7% to 21,217 units with cumulative sales dropping by 31.6% to 1,74,200 scooters during October 2002.

Ungeared scooter sales also slipped by 10.4% to7,485 units while step-thrus recorded a 24.5% decline at 5,060 units during the month under review.

Due to continued poor demand in rural markets, moped sales during last month were down at 18,230 units as compared to 21,079 units in October last year, the release said. TVS however continues to maintain its market leadership in this segment. During this seven months of the current year, scooterette sales grew by 8%, the release said.