Two-Wheeler Sales February 2019: Royal Enfield Sales Under Pressure

Royal Enfield sold over 60,000 motorcycles in February 2019, but overall sales are down compared to the peak of more than 70,000 motorcycles the company was despatching a year ago. In all, Royal Enfield sold 62,630 motorcycles in February 2019, with overall sales falling 14 per cent from 73,077 motorcycles the company had sold in the same month a year ago. The domestic market, which is Royal Enfield's primary sales market, reflected the dropping sales. Growth in domestic sales fell 16 per cent to 60,066 motorcycles in February 2019, compared to 71,354 motorcycles sold in the same month a year ago.

Commenting on Royal Enfield's performance, Siddhartha Lal, Managing Editor and CEO of Eicher Motors Limited, said, "The latter half of 2018 was a challenging period for the two-wheeler industry in India. Factors like increased insurance requirements, rising raw material costs and the subsequent price increase due to regulatory safety requirements impacted the momentum of the industry. Royal Enfield's market share recorded improvement on a sequential basis, while volumes in the quarter were impacted. We believe this is a temporary impact due to a price reset. We continue to remain optimistic about the trend of premiumization in the motorcycling industry, and are confident that this trend will continue in the future."

The silver lining however, is in Royal Enfield's export numbers. In February 2019, Royal Enfield exported 2564 motorcycles, registering a growth of 49 per cent over the same month a year ago, when Royal Enfield had exported just 1723 motorcycles. The newest models from Royal Enfield, the 650 Twins - Royal Enfield Interceptor 650, and Royal Enfield Continental GT 650 - have been positioned as the company's global products, and looks like traction is slowly building in export markets. There's already a few months waiting period on bookings in the domestic market on the 650 Twins. As production of the 650 Twins is streamlined, within the next quarter or so, expect Royal Enfield's exports to show significant growth and volumes.