Despite India’s horrendous COVID-19 death toll and the pandemic’s still-multiplying infection rate there, a glimmer of optimism about sales recovery for the vast Indian motorcycle and scooter market has emerged.
Honda’s wholly-owned Indian subsidiary HMSI, the country’s second-largest bike manufacturer, has just reported 0.6% domestic sales growth to 428,231 units during August, compared to the eqivalent month in 2019.
HMSI sales and marketing director Yadvinder Singh Guleria said this was the first time Honda had sold more than 400,000 machines in any month since the beginning of its current fiscal year in April. He attributed the increase to improving customer demand and inventory, thanks to higher utilisation of production capacity.
However, the picture wasn’t so clever for two other brands which have just released August sales data. Suzuki’s Indian bike operations suffered a 15.4% decline to 53,142. And indigenous manufacturer Royal Enfield was 5.2% down to 50,144.   Â