Hero MotoCorp’s Splendor, which ruled the motorcycle segment as the world’s largest-selling bike for years with a huge lead, has just been overtaken by Bajaj Auto’s Discover, albeit with a small margin.
Bajaj Auto claims to have sold 122,698 units (inclusive of exports) of Discover range of motorcycles compared with 121,018 units of Splendor range of motorcycles in September.
Bajaj sells three models of Discover, while Hero sells four Splendor models. However, on the domestic front, Splendor is still expected to be the largest-selling bike as it sold 116,271 units versus 111,719 of Discover last month, industry sources said.
Splendor sales fell almost 50% in the last six months. Hero sold 244,683 units of the bike in April this year, which fell to 176,727 units in August.
Experts see this as a one-month-phenomenon as Hero – the largest domestic two-wheeler manufacturer – has been correcting inventories in the last few months. “Hero’s inventory build-up went up in the past few months from 16-17 days to almost a month. The company has been taking corrective measures. We feel the company will be back on track from the next month on account of the festive season,” said Surjit Singh Arora, analyst, Prabhudas Liladher.
Splendor contributes about 35% to Hero’s overall volumes.
However, experts said Splendor as a brand will feel pressure on sales due to rising competition in the segment. New launches like Bajaj’s Discover 125 ST and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India’s Dream Yuga have been clocking good numbers.
Bajaj sold 35,000 units of Discover 125 ST in September within three months of its launch and Dream Yuga has been selling 25,000 units a month, which can go up to 40,000 units.
Experts said Splendor sales have dropped since the company dropped the Honda tag.
“Splendor Pro and Splendor Plus conversions have been impacted by 5-10%. This is worrying as both these models combined account for around 90% of Splendor and thereby 35% of total volumes,” wrote Ashish Nigam, analyst with Antique Stock Broking, in a note last month.
An analyst with a domestic brokerage said the decline in Splendor sales is also an indication of falling rural sales. “Major sales of the motorcycle come from the rural region. However, it is too early to say whether Bajaj Discover will continue to sell as the largest-selling bike,” he said.
But Bajaj Auto is confident of maintaining the momentum.
“There is a headroom to grow further as we do not export Discover in a big way. We hope to achieve a ballpark figure of 150,000 units after exports are started in a major way,” said K Srinivas, president – motorcycle business, Bajaj Auto.
Hero too put up a brave face. “Last year we sold over 2 million Splendor bikes and we are well on course to clock that kind of number this year as well,” said a spokesperson. However, overall sales for both companies in September declined on account of weak demand. Volumes of Hero fell 26.4% year on year, while those of Bajaj Auto dropped 15%.
