News Brief
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The festive season brought a surge in demand for electric two-wheelers, with retail sales reaching 139,031 units in October 2024.
This marks an 85 per cent year-on-year growth compared to the previous year’s 75,164 units, as the 32-day festivities across India ignited enthusiasm among consumers and boosted sales.
Ola Electric has seen a revival in sales after a challenging two-month period, achieving 41,605 units sold in October 2024.
This marked a substantial 68 per cent month-on-month increase and 74 per cent year-on-year growth, helping the company recover from lower sales in August (27,615 units) and September (24,716 units).
The company has also surpassed its entire CY2024 retails of 267,376 units and has sold an additional 96,885 units till end-October.
In January 2024, Ola began the year with 32,424 units sold, reflecting a 77 per cent increase. By March, sales peaked at 53,640 units.
This steady growth continued until July but faced a significant decline in August and September, attributed to numerous customer service complaints.
Following the company's assurance of having resolved 99.1 per cent of these issues through a redressal mechanism, October sales rebounded strongly.
As a result, Ola’s market share, which had dropped to 27 per cent in September from 38 per cent in March and July, climbed back to 30 per cent in October.
Notably, Ola achieved a milestone in September by becoming the first Indian electric vehicle manufacturer to surpass 300,000 unit sales within a single calendar year.
To enhance customer service, Ola Electric has introduced a Network Partner programme aimed at being logistically closer to its customers.
As per a 26 September tweet by CEO Bhavish Aggarwal, 625 partners are already in place. This will be expanded to 1,000 by the festive season and to 10,000 by end-2025.
After Bajaj Auto claimed the number two position in September, TVS Motor rebounded in October, reclaiming second place in the electric two-wheeler market.
The iQube manufacturer recorded 29,890 units in retail sales, reflecting an 81 per cent year-on-year growth from October 2023’s 16,507 units, capturing a 21 per cent market share last month.
TVS has held an 18.41 per cent market share over the first ten months of this year.
The rivalry between Bajaj and TVS, two of the leading Indian legacy OEMs, remains fierce.
In CY2023, TVS sold 166,581 iQubes, significantly outpacing Bajaj Auto’s 71,940 Chetaks by 94,641 units. This gap has notably narrowed in the current year, now standing at 27,164 units.