Honda Activa Outsells Hero Splendor in July

Buoyed by its scooter model Activa becoming the best selling two-wheeler brand in India yet again in July, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) is preparing to cash in on the upcoming festive season.

For the third time in the last 11 months, Activa from HMSI had outsold Hero MotoCorp's motorcycle model Splendor to become the number one two-wheeler model. In July this year, Activa sold 1,91,883 units as against 1,65,779 of Splendor.

The previous two months when Activa outsold Splendor were September 2013 (1,41,996 units as against 1,24,217 units) and March 2014 (1,77,928 units as against 1,63,778 units).

"Since its launch in 2001, Activa has entered its 14th year in India and still we have a waiting period for the model. That shows that there is preference of customers towards scooter, particularly of the brand," HMSI Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Yadvinder S Guleria told PTI.

When asked if HMSI was looking at Activa to consistently become the best selling two-wheeler model in India, he said: "This is a scooter and the other best selling model is a motorcycle, the market for which is much bigger. Our effort will be to meet the customer demand consistently."

He said the company has increased production of Activa at its 3rd plant in Bangalore to nearly 2 lakh units per month to meet the demand ahead of the festive season.

Without sharing the exact details, Guleria said the company's daily scooter production has been increased by 15-20 per cent in the second quarter of the ongoing fiscal from the first quarter.

"Our footfalls and enquiries have increased by 30 per cent in the April-July period, while sales have grown by 33 per cent. Consumer sentiments are positive and dealers are charged up. Our expectation is of a good festive season and we don't want our customers to celebrate the festivals without a Honda two-wheeler," Guleria said.

Stating that the company is preparing to meet the festive season demand, he said: "We are making all efforts and we don't want to miss out on the season. We know the seasonality."

Bullish on the company's scooters, he said: "Today, we still have pending order of 60,000 across different models out of which 70 per cent is that of Activa."

HMSI had reported an increase of 60.45 per cent in its scooter sales at 2,23,665 units from 1,39,392 units in July 2013.

During the month it reported 32.87 per cent growth in its total sales in July at 3,81,411 units, while its motorcycle sales registered a rise of 6.83 per cent to 1,57,746 units.