[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by am1m

I guess as bike enthusiasts we frequent forums like these and forget that it's not really the majority market here.

Volumes are less, agreed - but that's not the only reason here I feel. Harley Davidson Street 750 outsold the TVS Apache RR310 this month, and that coming from the low volume superbike segment. So defenitely there are more reasons in addition to the price factor.

IMO - TVS always makes great products - but falters when it comes to marketing and sustained sales push.

[The_Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

I can't believe that Z900 is selling in spades! Crazy indeed.

Well IMO, it provides the best bang for buck in its segment. Best motorcycle you can get under 10L if you ask me. Mine will definitely be a keeper!

[jpcoolguy]

Thanks Crazy Driver for this two wheeler sales analysis for November month.

Few observations from my side -

- Seems like the bad month for cars has infested the motorcycles as well, since the overall two wheeler sales for November month is the lowest for this year.

- HD Street 750 sales have picked up in the last 2 months, when everyone expected the opposite due to the launch of RE 650 twins. May be the discounts effect.

- Ninja 400 comes to a nought just in its 6th month of launch and sold a grand one unit in October as well.

- Do Mahindra really need to release the data that a grand total of 8 units of Jawa have been dispatched? They could have very well clubbed with next month data.

- Almost all the vehicles in the 250-500 cc category has seen a dip in sales this month and this has not even spared the mighty RE Classic 350 which has dipped below 40K units after a very long time, since May 2017.

- FZ25, Dominar, RR310, KTM 390 twins, Duke 250, CBR 250R, R3 - all these have hit their lifetime low (except for the last 2) and that says something about this worst festive season.

- Duke 125 debuts with 457 units, however the bigger Duke 200 managed to sell more than 2,000 units even in this crisis month. And it's indeed a big thing that Duke 200 has managed to outsell the much cheaper Avenger twins (180/220).

- Hornet has outsold the newer sibling X-Blade in the last 2 months however the sales of both of them has dropped below 5K. Has Honda made a mistake by launching X-Blade and thus diluting Hornet?

- The lower sales impact is across the board - Apache and FZ series falling to their worst month of 2018, Unicorn/Gixxer/V15/Xtreme losing more numbers and Intruder hitting the bottom.

- A segment below, even the much popular Shine and Glamour had their worst month of 2018.

- Even the mighty Splendor and Activa are impacted, however it's very heartening to see Ntorq leading the premium scooter segment with the newly launched Destini outselling both Grazia and Burgman Street.

Originally Posted by giri1.8

Had to double check to R15 numbers ! Such a plunge for a machine in good demand? Any labour issues at Yamaha factory?

There were few labour issues in Yamaha's Chennai factory, in the past 2 months, and the production was indeed impacted. However, we cannot conclude whether that is indeed the reason, since the lower sales is reported all across the board.

Originally Posted by sukiwa

has v12 production stopped?

V12 has indeed stopped from May 2018 and the last dispatches were during the month of April with 321 units.

[mithun]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Volumes are less, agreed - but that's not the only reason here I feel. Harley Davidson Street 750 outsold the TVS Apache RR310 this month, and that coming from the low volume superbike segment. So defenitely there are more reasons in addition to the price factor.

IMO - TVS always makes great products - but falters when it comes to marketing and sustained sales push.

Another negative point for TVS, their A.S.S

[mohansrides]

There is a lot being said about the Dominar's being a flop. I too harboured the same notion until recently when these sales numbers gave me a new perspective.

What I mean is that we always measure the Dominar's sales numbers with those of the RE. Why? Well, because Bajaj led us in that direction of thinking with their marketing campaigns that targeted the RE negatively. That was a foolish move. But, if we look past RE (who are essentially the Maruti of the medium and big bike segments in India), then we get a different perspective.

These sales numbers show that in most of the months of 2018, the Dominar has sold more copies than the Duke 250 and 390 combined. That's nothing to sneeze at. These KTMs, and the 390 in particular, are considered a real success. They are premium machines that everyone agrees are good VFM. So, the Dominar beating their combined numbers on most months is a fact that should give us pause.

Now, I think that the Dominar is actually a profitable venture for Bajaj. It sells in the 1000s every month plus export volumes. No wonder Bajaj is doubling down on its investment in this bike for 2019.

If Rahul Bajaj hadn't mouthed off at the launch about selling 10000 copies of the Dominar every month, and if Bajaj hadn't run that negative campaign, then who knows; we would probably be calling the Dominar a decent success right now.

P.S.

Like someone pointed out the extremely low numbers for the Dominar in the end of 2018 are no doubt due to the new and improved 2019 version which is due out soon - USD front forks, TFT console with a gear indicator and trip computer, longer seat, and probably a remapped engine.

Tell you what, if Bajaj makes the new KTM 790's engine and detunes it for a bigger Dominar, I'd be talking to my bank about a loan.

[tarik.arora]

Originally Posted by mohansrides

There is a lot being said about the Dominar's being a flop. I too harboured the same notion until recently when these sales numbers gave me a new perspective.

I think majority of the people were not calling Dominar a flop or were not comparing it with the RE. Instead the discussion was around the standalone volumes for Dominar. Even in the current form, Dominar is a very VFM product and it deserves more volumes. What surprises people here is why Dominar is not able to clock higher volumes even after being such a good product. I agree that niggles have dented confidence but still, i personally fail to understand such low volumes.

[mohansrides]

Originally Posted by tarik.arora

I think majority of the people were not calling Dominar a flop or were not comparing it with the RE. Instead the discussion was around the standalone volumes for Dominar. Even in the current form, Dominar is a very VFM product and it deserves more volumes. What surprises people here is why Dominar is not able to clock higher volumes even after being such a good product. I agree that niggles have dented confidence but still, i personally fail to understand such low volumes.

What volumes is everyone expecting for a motorcycle that costs 1.8 lacs? My point is that if we agree that the numbers for the KTM 390 and 250 are good, then the numbers for the Dominar too are good then.

Let’s face it. The Dominar is not an everyday commuter motorcycle. It was positioned as a power cruiser and it certainly is that kind of motorcycle. It loves the open road and is a bit hard to ride in dense traffic owing to its weight and short gears. So it’s not going to be most people’s choice for everyday duties, and it’s never going to see the volumes that other sub-1 lac bikes hit.

Of course RE’s 350 and 500 CC bikes (which are the in same price bracket as the Dominar) regularly see higher volumes. But that’s RE’s wonderful marketing machinery which has worked magic and plus RE had a couple of decades of a head start in gathering consumer mindshare. So it would be wrong to aspire to those volumes which are driven by a cult following.

Whether someone actually verbalises it or not, the inevitable comparison is with RE. And more so because of Bajaj’s stupid ad campaign. My point is that this subconscious comparison is informing everyone’s opinion about how successful the Dominar is. The fact is that only Bajaj and their finance guys know for sure where they made money on the bike. My suspicion is that they have made their money and then some.

By the way, with regards to the niggles, the only issue mentioned in reviews was the buzz at 4000 RPM; and I haven’t even heard that issue discussed during the past year.

Finally, I hear that the bike is a huge hit in markets like Latin America and even some parts of the former USSR. I guess not having an RE to target in marketing campaigns has helped Bajaj in those countries. Below is an English version of a Russian TVC. This is the campaign that Bajaj should have run in India.

https://youtu.be/nKeXso3f3Sg

[neil.jericho]

Thanks for sharing Crazy Driver, I do have one small request though. Some of the screen shots didnt have the year end totals while others did. So it was a little difficult to compare properly. Maybe next month onwards, can we have full monthly dispatches including annual totals?


Im a little late to the party but it's not like my perspective on the dispatch figures would have brought any new year cheer to the manufacturers. The industry dispatches in November fell by a rather disastrous 19.9% as compared to October! That's almost the equivalent of the dispatch numbers of UM Lohia, Triumph, Suzuki, Royal Enfield, Mahindra, Piaggio, Kawasaki, Harley Davidson and Bajaj (minus the Pulsar 220, 180 and 200) for the month of October combined. Jeez!

- Bad month for Bajaj as every bike except the venerable 100 cc Discover dispatched less units than the previous year. Among the biggies, the drop in dispatches MoM was the highest for Bajaj at 27.11%. I wouldnt want to be in the Bajaj sales team right now, gulp!

- Marginally better month for Harley Davidson on the sales figures but they ended up selling more of their entry level models (Street 750 + Street Rod combined) than their safe to assume, more profitable, bigger bikes. So profits would be down for the month. But given the industry bloodbath in monthly dispatches, I dont think they will be complaining.

- Hero, like Bajaj, had most of their bikes suffer from lower dispatches. The Destini 125 and Karizma buck the trend. But their drop in volumes MoM (16.06%) was below the industry average so they have some breathing room in their monthly sales review meetings.

- Honda suffered lower dispatches for every model but their MoM drop was in line with the overall market.

- Bad month with Kawasaki with a 39.5% drop in dispatches and on top of it, the lowest priced Ninja 300 made up of 58% of their dispatches. Im sure they would have been happier if they sold more of their more expensive bikes instead.

- Among the mid size players, Royal Enfield would have had a relatively better month as compared to its peers. They pushed out more 500s, which are more profitable for them, in November as compared to October. And their MoM fall was only 7.16%.

- Suzuki will milk the old Hayabusa till the day BS6 norms get implemented in our country in 2020. Im sure there will still be stocks available on the last day, Suzuki India dealers will be sad to see the bike off their shelves.

- Arguably in response to the Interceptor 650, Triumph has had some aggressive schemes running on the Street Twin and managed to push their dispatches up fair bit. Can it survive the Interceptor onslaught?

- TVS needs to do something about the very competent RR310, the dispatches are at their lowest in the year. If its any consolation, their decrease in MoM dispatches percentage wise was marginally better than Bajaj (23.23% vs 27.11% for Bajaj) but far worse than the industry average.

Originally Posted by tarik.arora

Why is Dominar down to sub 200 units? RE 650 impact (shouldn't be the case as the price difference is quite high)? Should not have been such a big disaster.

The revised Dominar should infuse some life into it, that said Bajaj has some discounts running in the month of December so Im not sure if they dispatched more units in December towards it.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post4514513 (Ridden: Bajaj Dominar 400)

Originally Posted by Turbanator

A little OT, what will be the business model of guys running Triumph Dealerships? Doing 80-100 all over India from 15 Dealerships. High monthly rentals in all those swanky places and with the number of guys working? How do they earn and how long can they remain in the business?

Prices of their bikes have increased substantially over the years, for example, the Street Triple is quite expensive when compared to its direct competition. So sales do help in offsetting some of their costs as well.

Originally Posted by mohansrides

If Rahul Bajaj hadn't mouthed off at the launch about selling 10000 copies of the Dominar every month, and if Bajaj hadn't run that negative campaign, then who knows; we would probably be calling the Dominar a decent success right now.

Numbers by themselves are extremely revealing as well as extremely deceptive. Hence context is king. The only barometer we have of the Dominar's targetted success is Rahul Bajaj's quoted target. And by that measure, the Dominar is a flop in sales figures.


Now, there is a larger perspective as well. A manufacturer has to invest a huge sum of money to engineer (in the Dominar's case, re-engineer) a motorcycle and as a business, they design and develop the bike based on numbers. The company leadership gives the development team a budget, they have a targetted monthly / annual sales figure, they work out the break even point and the month from which profits start pouring in. Based on the dismal sales figures of the Dominar, Bajaj is a long way away from their targetted profits on that platform. Im not saying its not already profitable, I would have no logical or honest way of knowing, but their targetted profits are way off from money that is currently rolling in.


So yes, selling some Dominars is better than selling no Dominars. But is it worth the investment and time Bajaj put into it?