Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India posts wholesales of 54,820 units for May, crosses 1.15-lakh mark in retail

New Delhi: Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) on Tuesday reported total wholesales of 54,820 units for May. This includes 54,000 domestic dispatches and 820 two-wheeler exports, the company said in a statement. In terms of retail sales, the company said that in May, it crossed the 1.15-lakh units mark.

HMSI Director (Sales and Marketing) Yadvinder Singh Guleria said, "May 2020 saw the wheels of business start turning slowly after the zero dispatch in the month of April 2020. By now, a sizable 70 per cent of Honda dealerships have resumed their operations."

He further said that in the new coronavirus era, Honda dealerships are increasingly promoting digital contactless customer engagement. "An early encouraging sign based on our survey is that about 80 per cent of the intenders are looking forward to purchase their favourite Honda two-wheelers within three months of the lockdown opening," Guleria said.

Moreover, there is an increased propensity of the buyers preferring a two-wheeler over public transport for daily commuting, in this time of social distancing, he added. "Our network has swiftly realigned their operations to welcome them and meet new expectations of the customers," Guleria said.

HMSI said that in May, its entire ecosystem including dealers and suppliers re-booted their operations. Over 70 per cent of Honda dealers have by now resumed sales and service operations. 

At the same time, 100 per cent of Honda's 308 supplier plants got approvals to restart operations, while HMSI also re-commenced production at its Narsapura plant (Karnataka) from May 25, with other three plants at Manesar (Haryana), Tapukara (Rajasthan) and Vithalapur (Gujarat) following from the first, week of June in a staggered manner.