Hero MotoCorp on Wednesday reported retail sales of over 14 lakh units of motorcycles and scooters in the recent festive season. The company said in a statement that despite severe disruptions on account of the Covid-19 this year, retail off-take during the 32-day festival period was 98% of the festive season volumes sold by the company in 2019, and 103 per cent compared to the same period in 2018. The 32-day sale period was spread between the first day of Navratra and the concluding day after 'Bhai Duj'.

It said that the sales have enabled Hero MotoCorp to reduce the vehicle stocks at its dealerships to less than four weeks, the lowest ever post-festive inventory.

The company's festival season retails were driven by the strong performance of its popular models across segments, including the 100cc Splendor+ and HF Deluxe, 125cc motorcycles Glamour and Super Splendor and the Xtreme 160R and the XPulse range in the premium segment, said the statement.

Hero MotoCorp has continued to consolidate its market share in the domestic two-wheeler market since the resumption of plant operations and retail sales in early May. Its market share has grown by more than 500 bps in the month of October.

“The news on the rapid development of Covid-19 vaccines is likely to enable a faster rebound of the global economy in the coming months. The positive forecast by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projecting close to double-digit growth for the Indian economy in FY’22 is likely to boost customer sentiments in general and the two-wheeler sector in particular. The slew of recent measures announced by the Government should also help accelerate recovery and aid core sectors to rebound fast,” the company added in a statement.

This announcement from Hero comes despite Vinkesh Gulati, President of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) saying that initial sentiment coming in from the ground showed that two-wheelers sales were challenging.