Two-Wheeler Sales Witness Sharp Decline In FY2018-19; Drop By 17.31%

Two-wheeler sales in the domestic market hit a road block in the 2018-19 financial year as sales saw a 17.31 per cent decline in volumes. The domestic two-wheeler sales stood at 14,40,663 units in FY2018-19, as against 17,42,307 units sold in 2017-18. The drop in volumes is alarming considering that the two-wheeler sector has grown consistently in the previous years. Factors including a weak customer sentiment, increase in prices and overall increase in insurance for vehicles contributed to slow buying period, especially in the second half of the financial year.

Another alarming decline in volumes was recorded for scooters that have been outperforming motorcycles in recent times in growth. Domestic sales for scooters during FY2018-19 stood at 387,552 units, dropping by 25.19 per cent over 518,015 units sold in 2017-18. Motorcycle sales, on the other hand, continued to bring in the larger chunk of volumes even as sales dropped by 14.27 per cent. Sales dropped to 982,385 units in 2018-19, as against 11,45,879 units sold during the previous fiscal. Moped sales dropped by 9.80 per cent 70,726 units from 78,413 units in 2017-18.

Exports witnessed a marginal hike in volumes for the 2018-19 fiscal with 251,303 units shipped, a marginal growth of 1.06 per cent over 248,672 units sold in FY2017-18. Scooter exports grew by 54.21 per cent with 36,088 units shipped while motorcycle exports dropped by nearly 4 per cent with 214,603 units. Moped exports also took a sharp hit of 69 per cent with 612 units shipped over 1968 units exported in 2017-18.