Hero Splendor outruns Honda Activa as India's best-seller, again

The Hero MotoCorp Splendor continues to outperform the Honda Activa as India’s highest selling two-wheeler for the third consecutive month. The Hero Splendor registered sales of 2,25,536 units in November 2018 while the Honda Activa clocked 2,18,212 units.

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While the Splendor piped the Activa for the third consecutive month, the year-on-year sales did not witness an upsurge. Hero MotoCorp sold 2,25,536 units of the Splendor in November, versus 2,25,737 in the corresponding month last year – a fall of 201 units. The year-on-year sales for the Honda Activa, on the other hand, crashed by three per cent, from 2,26,046 units in November 2017 to 2,18,212 units last month.

Overall, Hero MotoCorp remains the biggest two-wheeler brand, holding a market share of 36.5 per cent in India. The total year-on-year sales grew by 2.1 per cent, registering sales of 6,01,045 units in November 2018 (vs 5,88,532 units in November 2017). Honda takes the second spot with 24 per cent share of the Indian two-wheeler market, followed by TVS Motor Company at the third spot with 15.8 per cent.

While Hero MotoCorp is leading the motorcycle segment of the Indian two-wheeler market, the company has been eyeing the scooter space for some time. Hero MotoCorp is hoping to boost sales in the scooter segment with two new launches this calendar year. First, of the two upcoming scooters, the Destini 125, has already arrived at an ex-showroom, Delhi price tag of INR 54,650 for the Lx variant and INR 57,500 for the Vx variant while the Maestro Edge 125 is likely to arrive very soon.

Hero MotoCorp plans to take on Honda by expanding its scooter portfolio to six models in 8-12 months. Currently, the two-wheeler giant has four scooters in its portfolio – Maestro, Destini 125, Duet and Pleasure.

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Meanwhile, Honda 2Wheelers crossed another sales milestone in India this month. The two-wheeler brand crossed the four crore sales milestone (overall). Honda became the first two-wheeler brand in India to cross this mark in a period of 18 years. Scooters comprised more than 2.5 crore units in the total sales. Honda’s scooter portfolio consists the Activa, Aviator, Dio, Cliq, and the Grazia.