More than 300K motorcycles sold in a single day, 165K by Honda !!

In India, the biggest shopping season is Diwali, a 5-day holiday all over the country (not unlike Black Friday + Cyber Monday here in the US)

'Dhanteras' is the 1st of these 5 days and is considered the best day for sales. This year, Honda Motorcycles India sold 165K 2-wheelers on that day! Keeping aside the fact that the vast majority of these MCs are in the 100cc to 150cc spectrum, these are very impressive numbers.

Honda Motorcycyles & Scooters India (HMSI) --> 165,000 units on 21st October 2014

Hero Motocorp (49% stake holder in Eric Buell Racing ) --> 150,000 units on 21st October 2014

Bajaj Auto (manufacturer of all global KTM 200s, 390s, RCs etc) hasnt disclosed their numbers, but its expected to be close to the 100,000 mark as well!

What's fascinating is that these volumes are truly remarkable, even for a large 2-wheeler nation such as India.

Source Link --> http://profit.ndtv.com/news/corporates/article-hero-motocorp-honda-register-massive-sales-on-dhanteras-683130?pfrom=home-latest

Regards,
Vishnu

Wow that is a crazy amount of units to move out in that short of a time.

Honda India apparently stocked upto 600K units in anticipation of the large purchase volume. Most of these MCs are in the $1,000 to $2,000 range, and very few >$2000. But yeah, mighty numbers.

Honda India --> http://www.honda2wheelersindia.com/

A standard 150cc Honda Unicorn ($1,100)


Regards,
Vishnu

They keep doing that we'll never see a new ST1300 nor an Africa Twin.

Just kidding

What's equally nice about the smaller displacement bikes is their insane MPG values. The unicorn for example gives about 50-60 KM per Liter, or 120 MPG or more!

However, Its great to see more lower displacement bikes coming into the US (RC390, Enfield Continental GTs, Yammi R3, etc).

fnmag said:

Huge numbers. The Unicorn at $1100 would also sell big over here......but of course it would actually cost much more here.

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I would ride the Unicorn over there. It would suffer more at altitude than does the Royal Enfield, tho. They have a bunch of KTMs, too, made there. Triumph and Harley both build in India, too.

George said:

They have a bunch of KTMs, too, made there. Triumph and Harley both build in India, too.

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I'd also add the EBR!

And BMW last year signed up a deal with TVS Motocorp for manufacturing 500cc & smaller bikes( TVS - 4th largest Indian MC manufacturer) very similar to KTM signing up with Bajaj Auto (world's 3rd largest, India's 2nd largest MC company) and EBR partnering with Hero Motocorp (world's largest?)

Regards,
Vishnu

Those are impressive numbers for one day sales

I like that Unicorn. It would have to have a different name in the US. While I'm at it I'd also like a Cub 50 and an S90.

And we're wondering why they're not working on a new ST for the US. Look no further than this profit for Big Red. India is where they built the latest factories. Great business plan!

Ha ha that's so true - A name like "unicorn" wouldnt be taken very ...umm....seriously by riders But they'd make excellent commuters/riding school bikes (these Unicorns are magical - very low maintenance and easy repair as you'd expect)

Regards,
Vishnu

ST Gui said:

I like that Unicorn. It would have to have a different name in the US.

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thepaleobiker said:

But they'd make excellent commuters/riding school bikes (these Unicorns are magical - very low maintenance and easy repair as you'd expect)

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Yes! Put a small rack and top box on it along with some soft saddlebags and call it the ST1.300. Seriously I really like that bike.

Look at what Honda just launched in Europe! 125cc motorcycle very similar to the Unicorn I mentioned earlier in the thread.

--> http://www.cycleworld.com/2014/11/20/2015-honda-cb125f-first-look-motorcycle-review-photos-specifications/

Regards,
Vishnu

Some friends who have bike shops have told me that the trend seems to be toward smaller displacement bikes, in the 650-800 cc. I may have that incorrectly but makes sense that smaller displacement machines have performance to match larger ones of a short time ago. This might be a good trend as the "need" for the largest displacement bikes is simply fashion or myth for all but the smallest percentage of riders who are able to make use of the performance (in the case of sportier bikes) or unable to accommodate slightly lower torque (in the case of cruisers or conventional bikes).

When I visit shops, the road riding population are looking more and more geriatric which doesn't bode well for future ownership numbers.

Interesting post and stats, Vishnu,

Though there are hundreds of bikes on most Indian big city streets, I'm guessing that per capita Kathmandu has more. Just came from there last night (in Delhi now on my way home from a 6 week trip over here), and it's just insane there - seems to get more crowded each time I come back (I work with community health programs, so return to S.Asia often). It sure is an adrenaline rush to compete with the others for any inch of room near the front of the line at intersections (all controlled by traffic police - no lights).

Forget about the waving at other bikes!!
Peace,
Gord