Bajaj outpaces peers with 43% rise in March sales

The country's largest bike maker, Hero Honda Motors, today reported a jump of 21 per cent rise in sales in March 2005 at 2,31,593 units against 1,92,181 units in the same month last year.

For fiscal 2004-05, sales were up 27 per cent at 26,21,400 units against 20,70,157 units in 2003-04. The company said the strong sales propped its market share in the bike market by 2 per cent to 50 per cent in April-February '05 period. "Marketshare in the total two-wheeler market in the same period stands at 40 per cent," it said in a statement here.

However, Bajaj Auto's motorcycle sales surged 42.9 per cent during the month to 1.34 lakh units from 94,223 units, around double the estimated industry growth of about 21 per cent, enabling the company garner a 28.8 per cent market share during the month compared with 24.5 per cent recorded in March 2004, the company said.

Motorcycle sales were up by 41.6 per cent at 14.49 lakh for fiscal 2004-05 compared with 10.23 lakh in FY04. However, sales of three-wheelers dipped by a 3.1 per cent to 2.29 lakh from 2.21 lakh during the same period of previous fiscal.

TVS Motor's total two-wheeler sales in March 2005 stood at 1.06 lakh units, up by 5.59 per cent over the previous year's 1.05 lakh units. The aggregate two-wheeler sales for 2004-05 came to 11.67 lakh units, higher by 4.72 per cent in relation to the previous year's 11.14 lakh units.

Motorcycle sales, the company's mainstay, stood at 64,273 units in March, a 3.44 per cent increase over last year's 62,060 units. In March, the company launched its four stroke economy motorcycle, TVS StaR, in West Bengal, Karnataka and Kerala. Simultaneously, a variant, TVS StaR Deluxe, was launched in some markets. Motorcycle exports in March stood at 6,332 units.

For the financial year 2004-05, TVS Motor's motorcycle sales dipped by 3.82 per cent. Sales in 2004-05 stood at 6.79 lakh units, as compared to 7.06 lakh units last year.

The scooterette sales in March grew by 17 per cent over the previous year's 15,512 units to stand at 18,135 units. Moped sales in March stood at 23,810 units as compared to 23,019 units the previous year.