Bajaj Auto, the second largest two-wheeler manufacturer, has declared that its daily commuter Discover has outpaced the sales of Hero MotoCorp Splendor in September 2012 for the first time. However, the numero uno position of Hero MotoCorp remained flat and was not affected from the Bajaj's development.
The senior officials of Bajaj Auto confirmed that the sales of Discover in September this year stood at 1,22,698 units, including domestic and exports, whereas the model from Hero MotoCorp was able to find only 1,21,018 buyers in the same period.
President (Two-wheelers) of Bajaj Auto, K Srinivas, said, “We have launched two different variants of Discover and there's a strong traction for the brand in this slowing market. We feel there's enough headroom to further grow the Discover brand, both in domestic as well as exports market.”
Reportedly, the demand for Discover motorcycle has been increasing from several months, which proved out to be much lucrative for the company. In April 2012, the company delivered 1,01,962 units of Discover, which has been further increased to more than 1,22,000 units by September. On the other hand, the sales of Splendor has dropped by more than half from almost 2.4 lac units in April 2012 to around 1.21 lac units in September.
Srinivas further said that the company has witnessed the sales volume of Discover reaching 1.3 lac to 1.7 lac units in a couple of months and thereafter it will target to deliver around 2 lac units of the model every month. Industry experts believe that the sales records of Splendor witnessed a steep fall mainly owing to a variety of factors, including increasing inventory, economic slowdown and stiff competition from rivals.
He further added, “Post the Honda break-up, Hero has been pushing the envelope, just to show that all's well post the break-up, but the fact is it is not and it is showing now. The company would have to bring in new products to maintain its lead.”
On this situation, an auto analyst at BRICS Securities, Umesh Karne said that the Discover model has proved that it can compete well in big market category. “The company was known for premium bikes, but the success of Discover has proved that they can do well in the mass market as well. But it is not going to be easy as the competition is stiff. This is just one month, it will be interesting to see if Bajaj is able to sustain its position for Discover,” he added.
