Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) on Tuesday said that rural market for the two-wheeler sector has not grown as expected in the country in the first half of this year. The company, however, said it was expecting better demand in the second half of 2024.

“Normally, the first quarter of every fiscal year is the marriage season in the rural areas. But this time, the marriage season did not fare so well and unfortunately or fortunately, the long tenure of the elections impacted growth in the rural areas. Delayed monsoon also impacted (the sales),” Yogesh Mathur, Director, Sales and Marketing, HMSI, told reporters on the sidelines of the 64th SIAM annual convention here.

He said 30-35 per cent of the company’s total sales come from rural areas.

Talking about motorcycle sales, he said the sales are growing and the entry-level (100-110cc) motorcycles were also growing by around two per cent, and that the major growth is coming from 125cc, which is growing by 55 per cent. However, 150-180cc motorcycle sales are declining by around 9 per cent this year, till now.

Major shift to EVS

Meanwhile, Mathur said HMSI is looking to enter the electric vehicle (EV) segment this fiscal and eyeing one-third of its overall sales to accrue from the segment by 2030.

He noted that the contribution of electric two-wheelers in overall two-wheeler sales was continuing to grow. “What we understand is that by 2030 there will be a major shift towards EVs, and we have announced that by 2030 in our line-up, at least one-third will be EV models,” he said.

The EV scooter is being developed jointly by HMSI and Japan’s Honda teams, he said adding that the company was looking at swappable battery options for the e-scooter.

When asked about subsidies from government, Mathur said, “It (subsidy) doesn’t make any difference because our product strategy and positioning will be based on the current condition of whatever is available in the market. And, Minister (Nitin) Gadkari already announced that now this particular segment is matured enough, subsidies eventually will go off. So, we will be living with that condition.”

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