Scooter sales fall by 40 pc, motorcycles rise by 29 pc

New Delhi, Apr 2: Sale of scooters fell sharply by 40 per cent during the first eleven months of 1999-2000 mainly on account of negative s...

New Delhi, Apr 2: Sale of scooters fell sharply by 40 per cent during the first eleven months of 1999-2000 mainly on account of negative sales registered by leading players like Bajaj Auto, LML Ltd and Maharashtra Scooters.

However, the motorcycle sector posted a growth in sales of about 29 per cent to 15.9 lakh units in April-February of the fiscal ended March 31, 2000 on the strength of positive sales recorded by companies like Hero Honda, TVS Suzuki and Escorts Yamaha.

Mopeds also posted a modest 4.7 per cent growth in sales during the first eleven months of the last fiscal with 6.48 lakh units as against 6.18 lakh units a year ago, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

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The recessionary trend in scooter sales continued with the sector registering sales of 11.4 lakh units during the reference period as compared to 11.9 lakh units a year ago.

Market leader Bajaj Auto registered a negative sales growth of 7.7 per cent at 5.21 lakh scooters in the same period of 1999-2000 as against 5.65 lakh units last year.

The company’s market share also dropped from 47.3 per cent to 45.5 per cent during the same period.

Sales of LML scooters dipped by a considerable 22.8 per cent and stood at 2.61 lakh units as compared to 3.01 lakh units. LML’s market share dropped from 25.19 per cent to 22.8 per cent.

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However, scooter makers like TVS Suzuki and Kinetic Motor Company posted impressive sales figures as the former sold 1.14 lakh units during the first eleven months of the last fiscal which was 26.8 per cent higher over 1998-99 sales of 90,382 units.

Kinetic also clocked a sales growth of 19.2 per cent at 1.08 lakh units during April-February 1999-2000 from 90,573 units in the same period of 1998-99.

The booming motorcycle segment witnessed 28.8 per cent growth in sales at 15.9 lakh units as compared to 12.3 lakh units in the reference period.

Hero Honda sold 6.77 lakh motorcycles during April-February which was 41.8 per cent higher than sales of 4.78 lakh units registered at the same period of 1998-99.

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The company’s market share also increased to 42.5 per cent over from 38.7 per cent a year ago.

Bajaj Auto and TVS Suzuki also clocked considerable sales growth of 13.8 per cent and 22.7 per cent respectively.

Bajaj Auto sold 3.79 lakh motorcycles during the first eleven months of the last fiscal over 3.33 lakh units sold in the same period of 1998-99.

During the same period, TVS Suzuki sold 2.95 lakh units as compared to 2.40 lakh units in 1998-99, while Escorts Yamaha posted 13.6 per cent growth in sales at 2.16 lakh units in 1999-2000 as against 1.61 units a year ago.

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The mopeds segment grew marginally by 4.7 per cent as sales of Bajaj Auto and TVS Suzuki rose up by 49.5 per cent and 14.2 per cent respectively.