Two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto has recorded its highest ever sales in the month of October, as festive season purchases pushed up sales. Its Pulsar bikes recorded sales of over 1.7 lakh units, which is the highest ever for the brand as well.
Bajaj sold 5.12 lakh units domestically in October, 11% up from the same month last year. It also saw a significant increase of 29% in exports from 1.56 lakh units in October last year to over 2 lakh units this year.
However, domestic commercial vehicle sales saw a 65% drop to 12,529 units as against 36,260 units in October last year. Commercial vehicles in this case would mean autorickshaws and commercial three-wheeler vehicles. This could be due to commute being largely curbed over the past nine months, which has majorly impacted livelihoods of the low-income groups.
This is reflected in its domestic sales between April-October 2020, which fell by a whopping 82% as compared to the same period last year. Bajaj sold 41,203 in this period this year, as compared to 230,207 units last year.
Including exports, sales were down 35% to 41,748 units in October.
Overall, Bajaj reported total sales (two wheelers and commercial vehicles) of 5.12 lakh units, of which 2.81 lakh units were sold domestically, and 2.3 lakh units exported.
However, despite posting record sales, the stock fell by 1.5%. At the time of writing, the stock was down 1.59% to Rs 2,841.
This could be on the back of recent comments by Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv Bajaj, who said that he wasn’t upbeat about demand coming back and that two-wheeler sales during the festive season were tepid, especially in the low-end 100cc bike segment, which he said were down 30%.
These comments came on the back of the Federation of Auto Dealers Association (FADA) estimating a double-digit decline in two-wheeler sales this festive season, as compared to last year.
Bajaj told CNBC-TV18 that he was not upbeat about demand coming back during the rest of the fiscal year, blaming the lack of demand on the lockdown and costs increasing due to regulations.
However, in contrast, Hero Motocorp too, recorded its highest-ever monthly sales in October, selling over 8 lakh units of motorcycles and scooters.
TVS Motor, on the other hand, saw total sales of 394,724 units, logging a growth of 22%.
In a statement, the company said that it sold 394,724 units (382,121 two-wheelers, and 12,603 three-wheelers) in October 2020, up from 323,368 units (308,161 two-wheelers, 15,207 three-wheelers) sold in October 2019.
Two-wheeler exports registered a growth of 46 per cent -- 80,741 units in October 2020 as against 55,477 units in October 2019.