Honda 2Wheelers India Sells Over 1 Million Vehicles This Festive Season

During the festive season between September and October 2016, HMSI sold over 7 lakh Activa scooters in the country, while motorcycle sales were led by the CB Shine with over 2 lakh units pushed out. October 2016 sales too specifically have been positive for the Japanese auto giant with 4,92,367 units pushed out, a 9 per cent growth compared to last year. That said, the company is still a distant second in terms of volumes when compared to the 6+ lakh two wheelers sold by Hero MotoCorp last month.

Honda also revealed that automatic scooter sales accounted for 3,02,946 units in the total sales last month, crossing the 3 lakh mark for the fourth consecutive month. That's a massive jump for the scooter segment, which has been impressive numbers across all manufacturers.

The Honda CB Shine clocked over 2 lakh sales in the festive period

Speaking on the record sales, HMSI, President & CEO, Keita Muramatsu said, "To meet the overwhelming demand this festive season, we started our preparations almost 6 months back. We have been consistently growing month on month this year. As a trend, automatic scooters are clearly driving the two-wheeler industry growth and with new scooter only 4th plant in Gujarat achieving peak production capacity in September, Honda strategically met festive demand with seamless dispatches over two months. This planning resulted in Honda's record performance and we acquired more than 10 lac happy customers in the 2 festive months. What is more encouraging is that we added 2.6 lac customers only on Dhanteras day!"

The 2016-17 financial year has been equally promising for Honda with the company selling over 33.01 lakh units in just seven months between April and October. The company sold 21,01,168 scooters during this period, a growth of 26 per cent; whereas motorcycle sales amounted to 10,42,301 units, a growth of 12 per cent.

The festive period has helped Honda gain a market share of 2 per cent taking its total market share to 26 per cent; while the company has grown at a pace of 21 per cent in the Indian two-wheeler industry this year, nearly double the 11 per cent industry growth rate.

For the Indian market, HMSI will continue to concentrate on the commuter segment and will be updating a host of models with aesthetic upgrades. The two wheeler maker will also update its models to BSIV emission norms in the following weeks. Honda's next major launch is only expected by mid-2017 - the Africa Twin.