Royal Enfield have knocked India Yamaha Motors from their standing, claiming the position of the fifth largest motorcycle manufacturer in India for the calendar year 2018. This feat means that four of the top five manufacturers are now Indian brands. The Indian market top five currently consists of Hero Moto Corp taking the top spot, followed by Honda Motorcycles Scooters India, TVS Motors, Bajaj Auto, and now Royal Enfield.
India Yamaha Motors did show a mere one per cent increase in their sales figures but it was not enough to stop the rampaging bullets from surpassing them. However, they aren’t quite out of the woods yet, as Royal Enfield are being given stiff competition by the just launched and reinvented Jawa motorcycles. December saw Royal Enfield sell just 56,026 units, which is well below their general average of 70,000 units. At the same time, Yamaha themselves are more or less moving away from the commuter market and heading further towards performance motorcycles and scooters, which might be the reason for their meager sales increase.
An interesting fact to note is that Royal Enfield, who occupy 3.9 per cent of the Indian market share, have achieved this without a line up of scooters and commuter motorcycles. When you compare that to Yamaha, who holds 3.7 per cent of the market, half of those numbers are from scooters and commuters.
All in all, the Indian two-wheeler market is going through a transition at the moment, and it will be worth keeping a keen eye on the situation to see how Yamaha responds.
Story: Zal Cursetji
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