Even with new competitors coming in the 250-cc plus motorcycle segment, Eicher Motors is confident of retaining its leadership position with Royal Enfield. The company, in fact, does not plan to make it easy for the competitors.
Bajaj Auto, which entered the 350-cc plus space in December with its premium sports bike Dominar, raced ahead of Royal Enfield sales in February. Bajaj sold 3,082 units of Dominar as against 2,628 units sold by Royal Enfield, a 35 percent dip in February, as per the SIAM data.
“If you look at 250-cc plus motorcycle market in India, every 19 of 20 products are sold by us…This is reality. It is not that easy to unseat someone who is doing this,” said Siddhartha Lal, managing director and chief executive director of Eicher told Business Standard.
According to reports, Japanese automaker Honda is also working on a motorcycle for this segment.
Royal Enfield dominates the 250-350 cc plus segment in India with sale of almost 50,000 units a month. In the 350-500 cc segment, it has a market share of about 80 percent.
The company will continue to focus on unique products. “We don’t want to cater to everything. We want to stick to our core and do what we do well,” Lal said.
Commercial vehicles is another key focus area for the company.
Eicher Motors will start manufacturing BS-IV compliant vehicles from April, Chief Executive - VE commercial vehicles - Vinod Aggarwal had told CNBC-TV18. The company, which did not offer any discounts on BS-III stock last month, is unperturbed by the inventory levels.
Strengthening exports, which currently contribute only 2 percent to motorcycle sales, is another focus area for the company. Fourth quarter is expected to be better for the Eicher. The quarter will see more growth due to pent-up demand of Q3 primarily because of cash ban that was implemented in November, Aggarwal had said.
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