Honda outsells Hero

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With financial editor Roger Willis

Honda outsells Hero

Honda’s huge Indian motorcycle and scooter manufacturing subsidiary HMSI finally outpaced indigenous champion Hero MotoCorp in September 2022’s run-up towards Diwali festive season peak sales.

In what are bound to be disputed figures, Hero claimed its September domestic sales volume increased marginally by 0.4% to 507,690 bikes. In parallel, HMSI reported domestic volume 5.4% up to 488,924. Like all their competitors, both are distinctly vague about whether data is based on wholesale shipments to dealers or retail interfaces with consumers.

However, the Indian government’s Vahan statistical portal – which is seen as the most reliable gauge of retail activity – recorded roughly 34,000 more Honda registrations than Hero during the month. As a result, India’s leading business newspaper Economic Times headlined that Hero had been trounced by HMSI, becoming key monthly market leader for the first time ever. No doubt Hero chief executive Pawan Munjal, current doyen of the company’s controlling Munjal dynasty, will be throwing all of the toys out of his pram to challenge this verdict.

Diwali, which traditionally reaches its crescendo in October, is viewed by religiously-inclined Hindu, Sikh and Jain bikers as an especially auspicious time to buy a new set of wheels. This year, celebrations got off to a slow start but have since benefited local opposition to Honda and Hero mightily with some stunning growth.

Norton parent TVS Motor’s domestic tally put on 16.3% to 283,878 in September. Royal Enfield considerably more than doubled its sales on home turf to 73,646. And Suzuki’s Indian motorcycle and scooter subsidiary grew sales by 27.6% to 86,750.

ACEM backs cleaner combustion

IN A SIGN OF INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRY resistance to an exclusive battery-electric future for powered two-wheelers, European motorcycle manufacturers association ACEM has joined the eFuel Alliance.

Representing more than 170 companies, associations and consumer groupings that are a part of what appears to be a bio-fuel production value chain, the eFuel Alliance’s main objective is to enable the industrial production and widespread use of carbonneutral fuels made from renewable energy sources – presumably such as those based on sugar cane.

Although ACEM accepts that electric bikes will play a central role in its decarbonisation strategy, the organisation notes that some two-wheeler segments, particularly leisure-oriented machines, currently remain very hard to electrify – because large and heavy batteries affect handling and dynamics, and require significant trade-offs at the expense of range and convenience.

It therefore concludes that carbon-neutral fuels would be a perfect solution for those segments for which electrification remains challenging from a technical standpoint. And such fuels would also be instrumental in reducing CO2 emissions from Europe’s legacy fleet of ICE two-wheelers, which currently amounts to about 40 million bikes.

This latest stance seems to be separate from commitments from various ACEM member manufacturers to carbon-free hydrogen burned by ICE bikes.

Tentative revival for Intermot

The return of Germany’s Intermot international motorcycle and scooter trade fair in Cologne, after a four-year hiatus owing to the Covid pandemic, has been hailed as a success. Both the presenting Koelnmesse exhibition venue and organisers from the IVM German motorcycle industry association have expressed satisfaction with attendance figures and upbeat responses by leading exhibitors.

The show reportedly attracted approximately 100,000 visitors from 75 countries, to inspect the wares of around 50 exhibiting companies. About 20% of visitor footfall were trade representatives, with roughly 30% of these coming from destinations beyond the German border. According to the organisers, more than 80% of surveyed visitors were satisfied with their experience.

But lack of the usual Teutonic precision in calculating and analysing headcount, alongside the notable absence of several major bike manufacturers, inevitably raised some eyebrows. A number of UK trade reps in attendance opined to BDN that the IVM had clearly struggled to fill the three Koelnmesse halls in use, and the whole show would have probably fitted into two of them.

Both Koelnmesse chief operating officer Oliver Frese and IVM general manager Reiner Brendicke admitted there had been some issues, but stressed that positive visitor response had underlined how important an industry platform is, especially under difficult circumstances.

“The mood among participants was very good,” added Brendicke. “One could sense that the industry had missed exchanging ideas in such a framework. Even if the industry was not yet completely represented in Cologne after the pandemic, Intermot 2022 has demonstrated its strengths as a trade and consumer fair, and positioned itself on the market again.”

Bike manufacturers who did exhibit at Intermot – including BMW Motorrad, Kawasaki, Royal Enfield, Suzuki and Triumph, plus big European consumables, parts and apparel brands like Motul, Motorex, Öhlins and Rukka – were very supportive of the IVM’s perspective. Effusive post-show endorsements from all of them were forthcoming, in relation to both trade and public interest. www.britishdealernews.co.uk