Ola had bravely disrupted decades-old incumbents in the two-wheeler space in India, but the incumbents are now fighting back.
Bajaj has beaten Ola in each of the first three weeks of December in electric scooter sales in India. With Bajaj now holding a commanding lead, it makes it very likely that Ola will be unseated as India’s top-selling electric scooter brand in December. This will be the first time in several quarters that Ola will not be India’s top-selling electric scooter in a full calendar month.
In the first week of December, Bajaj had sold 4,988 electric scooters, ahead of TVS with 3,964 scooters and Ola with 3,351 scooters. Bajaj maintained its lead in the second week, ending up selling 9,513 scooters, followed by TVS at 7,567 scooters and Ola Electric with 6,387 scooters. In the third week, Bajaj continued to maintain its lead, selling 13,840 scooters ahead of TVS with 11,667 scooters and Ola with 10,144. In terms of market share, Bajaj had a 28 percent market share in the first week of December, followed by a 27 percent market share in the second week, and a 26 percent market share in the third week. In all three weeks, TVS too had edged ahead of Ola, and pushed it to third place.
This is quite a turnaround from June this year, when Ola alone had cornered nearly half of the electric two-wheeler market in India. In June, Ola had a market share of 49 percent, which fell to 39 percent in July, 32 percent in August, and 27 percent in September. In October, Ola Electric’s market share rose marginally to 30 percent, but fell to 24 percent in November, a shade ahead of TVS at 23 percent and Bajaj at 22 percent. And in December, it appears that Ola’s market share will be down to around 18 percent, while Bajaj will command 26 percent.
Bajaj appeared to have sensed this coming — earlier this month, its MD Rajiv Bajaj had quipped “Ola to Ola hai, Bajaj to shola hai,” at an event, while claiming that Bajaj Chetak was becoming the top-selling electric scooter in the country. Ola, meanwhile, has been battling some bad publicity around its after-sales service, which could’ve potentially affected sales. But with Bajaj and TVS both sneaking ahead in December, it appears that the disruptor is becoming the disrupted in India’s electric scooter space.