India Becomes No 1 Two-Wheeler Market, Overtakes China

India has overtaken China to become the number one two-wheeler market in the world, overtaking China in overall sales for 2016, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). India sold 17.7 million two-wheelers in 2016, against China's sales of 16.8 million two-wheelers. Scooter sales alone accounted for over 5 million of those figures, while commuter motorcycles in the 100-110 cc segment accounted for nearly 6.5 million unit sales.

In terms of pure volumes, China's two-wheeler market is huge, but China's domestic motorcycle market has seen a downturn in recent years due to a ban of motorcycles in many Chinese urban centres.

There are several reasons for the downtrend in the Chinese two-wheeler market. The Chinese domestic market is highly regulated and import barriers are high, reducing motorcycle imports. Moreover, there is no developed motorcycle culture like in the West, so higher capacity motorcycles don't see any significant sales growth.

Additionally, about 200 municipalities and cities have banned motorcycles completely from their downtown areas. Heavier bikes with larger engine sizes are officially forbidden from entering the urban area. More importantly, declining motorcycle sales in China are also attributed to the availability of inexpensive Chinese cars. These cars, produced by domestic car makers pose a threat to the two-wheeler market. In India on the other hand, the two-wheeler market is rapidly increasing with a corresponding rise in spending power, and without any restrictions such as China's. The bulk of India's two-wheeler sales comes from commuter motorcycles and automatic scooters.