Honda leads in incremental volumes in exports & domestic sales

The two-wheeler major Honda not only continues to lead incremental volume in domestic sales for the second quarter in a row in Q1,contributing 69 per cent, it's also become the largest volume contributor to exports in the June quarter with almost one-third of the total share.

With a 44 per cent growth in exports, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) has contributed almost a third, to be precise 29.5 per cent of the incremental export volume in the June quarter, or three-times more than the industry volume.

The two-wheeler makers shipped a total 6,62,534 units during the April-June period, up 15 per cent over the same period last year, while Honda shipped 81,862 units during the period, recording a growth of 44 per cent over year-on-year, according to the data from the industry lobby Siam.

Overseas shipments by Honda contributed 29.5 per cent to the total volumes, which is almost similar to what the segment leader Bajaj Auto added in the reporting period.

On the other hand, Honda contributed 68.8 per cent of the total incremental sales in the domestic market. While the industry clocked 4,896,170 units in Q1, Honda sold 1,478,478 units during the same period. Out of the total addition of 3,53,434 units by the industry, Honda alone sold 2,40,604 units, thanks to its automatic scooter Activa which contributed close to 65 per cent of this.

In absolute terms, Bajaj leads the export chart with 3,49,152 units, followed by TVS at 1,10,504 units. Domestic volume leader Hero is at a distant fourth slot with 42,344 units of exports.

When contacted HMSI senior vice-president for sales & marketing YS Guleria said the unprecedented jump in export was led by the automatic scooter Dio, which contributes 45 per cent of its total shipment followed by the Navi, a crossover bike.

"The Dio continues to be our flagship in overseas markets, chipping in with almost 45 per cent of the volume, followed by the bikes Twister and Hornet. The Navi has also been a great contributor with 4,000 units. Now we are getting huge orders from Latin America too for the Navi," Guleria told PTI over phone from New Delhi.

The volume expansion has also been driven by newer markets and higher orders from Latin America, he said, adding demand has come back from LatAm in general, taking the overall share to 35 per cent now, up from 30 per cent last year.

He further said they will soon be shipping the Navi to LatAm. The crossover bike was so far being shipped to Nepal and Sri Lanka only and volumes in the quarter touched 4,000 units.

The Saarc markets led by Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh still continue to hold 65 per cent of Honda's exports, he said, adding for the second consecutive quarter Honda is the market leader in Sri Lanka.

"Already we are servicing Latin American markets like Guatemala, Columbia, El Salvador and Bolivia, and Mexico. This month we have got orders from Ecuador too and we shipped samples already," he said, adding the company servers these markets with CKD and CBU models.

"On the export front, we have done so well that our market share among the industry went up 2 percentage points to 12 per cent in the June quarter" Guleria said.

He however was quick to add that the company doesn't expect a massive increase in volume share as it doesn't have the capacity to meet additional volumes.

"We are unable to meet even the domestic demand with 10 assembly lines. We still have waiting period here. So I don't think a dramatic spike in our market share on the exports front. It should remain within the single digit for some more time," Guleria said, adding the company will be opening its 11th assembly line in Bengaluru towards the end of this month.