Pune, July 3: Scooters continue to torment auto major Bajaj Auto Limited but motorcycles and scooterettes are offering some respite. The first quarterly performance has seen scooter sales slide by 15.6 per cent while motorcycles revved up by 87 per cent. Scooterettes, on the other hand, accelerated by 78 per cent. The "Indian motorcycle" market (M80 model) grew by 10 per cent while three wheeler segment registered a 6.1 per cent growth. Overall sales of the company grew by 9.3 per cent during the quarter ended June 2000 with sales of 3,24,231 as against 2,96,514 units in the corresponding period last year.
During the first quarter of year 2000-2001, Bajaj's scooter sales are down from last year's 1,68,425 units to 1,42,190 units. Bajaj Auto vice president, business and product development, RL Ravichandran said that the company would maintain its competitiveness in the scooter market and market share would be gained through the introduction of new models in the coming months and innovative finance schemes from its finance company, Bajaj Auto Finance Ltd.
The month of June has been good for Bajaj Auto's motorcycle sales. The company has registered a 105 per cent growth in motorcycle sales during June 2000. The company sold 27,427 units in June 2000 compared to 13,397 units in June last. For the quarter ended June 2000, Bajaj Auto's motorcycle sales grew by 87 per cent. It sold 85,266 units during the first quarter of 2000-2001 compared to 45,642 units during the same period last year. The motorcycle industry grew at 34 per cent during the same period.
In the scooterettes segment, Bajaj's Sunny and Spirit models grew by 107 per cent in the month of June while during the entire quarter ending the growth has been around 78 per cent. This year's Q1 sales was 1,9562 units against the previous year's 10995 units for the same period in the scooterette category.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.