Anand Mahindra says entering commuter 2-wheeler space was a mistake

TIL Desk/Business/Mumbai/ Anand Mahindra, the chairman of the homegrown auto group Mahindra & Mahindra, on Wednesday admitted that entering the commuter bike segment more than a decade ago was a failure on the part of the group.

The group entered two-wheelers after buying out Kinetic Motors in July 2008 and relaunched the ‘Freedom’ bikes under the label of ‘Mojo’ but has not been able to make a mark in the vastly entry-model driven two-wheeler space in the country even after a decade.

The market is dominated by Hero Motorcorp and Japanese major Honda which together control close to two-thirds of the over 21-million units per annum market. Of this, Mahindra sold a paltry 4,004 units in FY19, down 73 percent from FY18. The only player in an over a dozen OEM market behind Mahindra is Kawasaki Motor which sold 3,115 units in the year, according to Siam data.