Welcome to Post Q3 Fiscal 2024 Results Conference Call of Eicher Motors Limited. Thanks to the management for giving us the opportunity to host the call. Top management is represented by Mr. Siddhartha Lal, MD, CEO of Eicher Motors; Mr. Vinod Aggarwal, MD and CEO of Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles; Mr. B. Govindarajan, CEO of Royal Enfield; and Ms. Vidhya Srinivasan, Chief Financial Officer, Eicher Motors Limited. Without wasting any time, I'd like to hand over the call to Mr. Lal to take over. Thanks.
Thank you, Basudev Thank you for hosting this call for us. Hello everyone, and welcome to the Q3 Earnings Call for Eicher Motors Limited for year 2022-23. I hope you're all well. 2023 has been a very solid year for us overall, and we've grown from strength to strength. Each quarter has been a milestone in terms of our business and our financial performance, and we've seen strong growth both at Royal Enfield and at VECV. We've had some spectacular new and category-defining launches across both companies, and we've deepened our commitment to consumers and stakeholders in this time. Beginning with Royal Enfield, we've had an excellent last few months with two extremely special launches of new motorcycles, and then, of course, the annual celebration that we do of all things motorcycling, which is Motoverse, that we do in Goa in November every year.
Beginning with Royal Enfield, oh, sorry, we launched the all-new Himalayan, first and foremost, which is on the all-new Sherpa 450 engine. This was done in Goa at Motoverse. The new Himalayan has set absolutely new benchmarks in the world of adventure touring across all markets. So it's been the reception from consumers, experts has been absolutely amazing, and we've won the extremely prestigious Indian Motorcycle of the Year award for 2024, which is our fourth IMOTY win in the last six years. And, we won it in 2023 for Hunter, 2024 for Himalayan, so it's a consecutive win as well. But it's the fourth out of six, and, and really it's a testament to the strength of the new products that we're coming out with in, in the last many years. After that, we also launched a stunning new Shotgun 650, which is a custom-inspired motorcycle.
Govind will talk to you more about this, but this is really our attempt to build newer formats of motorcycling expression and introduce new niche categories within premium motorcycles. We also had an interesting showcase of our collaboration with Himalayan communities, with the Himalayan Knot, which is a tribute to the craft, culture, and heritage of the Himalayas. We had artisanal communities, renowned designers, artists, and our rider community all come together, driven by the passion for cultural exploration and the love for Himalayas, which is the main focus of our social mission at Royal Enfield, the Himalayas. Moving on to VECV commercial vehicles now, which is our joint venture with Volvo, we had an extremely strong quarter with market share gains across the board and across business segments.
We concluded, we just recently concluded, our exciting participation at Bharat Mobility 2024, where we showcased a wide range of alternative engine products, including electric buses and trucks. But the highlight that Vinod had presented was the global unveiling of our electric-first small commercial vehicle platform of 2-3.5 tons. Deliveries of this, of these new small commercial vehicles will start Q1 of calendar year 2025, so around a year from now. Overall, the performance at Eicher Motors Limited has been absolutely outstanding this year, and we've registered record-breaking performances of best ever across revenue, EBITDA, and PAT. So coming to financials, we're talking about our consolidated financials for Eicher Motors Limited. That does not include the revenue from VECV; that's reported separately. But we've had our seventh consecutive quarter marking highest-ever revenue for EML at INR 4,179 crores. So that's basically all Royal Enfield revenue, VECV's reported separately.
So this is up 12.3% from last year. Our EBITDA, it's our fifth consecutive quarter marking our highest-ever total EBITDA number for EML at INR 1,090 crores, up 27.2% from last year. And profit after tax for EML consolidated stood at INR 996 crores, up 34.4% from last year. So that's our outstanding financials for this quarter. And now I hand over to B. Govindarajan, the CEO of Royal Enfield, who will take us through the business highlights for at Royal Enfield. Thanks, Govind.
Thank you, Siddhartha. Hi everyone. Let me now walk you through about the Royal Enfield performance in Q3. We have continued the strong growth momentum with an exceptional performance in the third quarter. We sold almost 229,214 motorcycles in this quarter. It's up by about 4% year-over-year from Q3 of FY23. In India, we sold almost about 213,385 units. That's 2.13 lakh units. It's up by 2% sequentially in Q2. The premium segment, which is almost in a—at a healthy pace, is growing at about 24% in the overall motorcycles, which contributes 24% in the overall motorcycles. We have a very strong retail growth of about 13% in the sales of our motorcycles during the festive period in India. Q3 has seen the highest-ever domestic retail for Royal Enfield so far.
In the international markets, we shipped around 15,829 units in Q3 FY 2024, which is actually 11% lower than last year. However, in the retail, we have seen a middle single-digit growth, on a year-over-year basis in the international market for the first nine months of FY 2024. We have maintained our market share in our key markets. RE is a leading middleweight brand in the U.K. and among the top three in Europe with about 8%-9% market share across the countries in that region. In the Americas, we have around 8% market share, and in APAC, almost about 9% market share in the middleweight segment. In the market, which is not growing, we have been holding the market share very steadily. Siddhartha was mentioning the new launches.
The all-new Himalayan, which we launched in November 2023 at Himalayas and in Motoverse, the motorcycle is a perfect balance between the capability and usability and a superb adventure tourer. You know, it features our newest engine platform, the Sherpa 450, which is Royal Enfield's first liquid-cooled engine, and a host of new features, including the Tripper Dash, which is a full navigation, and the consumer response has been very, very encouraging. We'll be launching the motorcycles in the EU also in a few months now. During this quarter, we also have launched the Shotgun 650, a custom-inspired roadster motorcycle on our globally awarded 650cc twin platform. We started with an exclusive drop-off of about 25 motorcycles at Motoverse, followed by a global showcase at Los Angeles, California.
We have launched the motorcycle in the EU and U.K. in the month of January, and we'll be starting the retail in India also now. The initial response from the consumers has been very good, and we are confident that this motorcycle will be a perfect canvas for customizers who are looking for a motorcycle that reflects their personality and for all the consumers. In this quarter, one of the important milestones, we also launched the Wingman with our Super Meteor 650, a connected vehicle device that enables a rider with critical vehicle information. That's a starting point in our connected motorcycles. In an effort to bring more value-added services for our consumers, we launched the industry-first Assured Buyback, and Reown, which is—which is actually earlier it used to be the—the used motorcycles, which is now this industry-owned program.
The Assured Buyback program caters to the shifting consumer needs from ownership to usership, and Reown is an industry-first omnichannel, pre-owned motorcycle program. During this quarter, we also have done substantial work in our sustainability. We are truly delighted to update you all that we have received the Platinum rating from CII, Indian Green Building Council, IGBC, for our global headquarters at Chennai. This is a testament to our consistent effort in driving the innovation for sustained exploration. Also, our Vallam Vadagal plant has been awarded as a Future Ready Factory of the Year 2023 by Frost & Sullivan IME Award. This is a reflection of our ongoing commitment towards achieving manufacturing excellence. We also commenced the usage of compressed biogas in operations at our Vallam Vadagal plant in our efforts to reduce our footprints.
Eicher Motors continued to feature among the leading automakers in global corporate sustainability ratings in S&P Global and DJSI assessments for 2023. Eicher Motors continued to be in the top 15th percentile in the global autos. We also maintained our position, at number seven out of 86 in the global autos in the Sustainalytics ESG rating, with successful recent launches and the new platform launches. We are well on our way to ride ahead on our strategic goals. With several launches and initiatives which are lined up, we are well prepared for our growth journey in India and the global market. I now hand over to Vinod Aggarwal to take you through the VECV performance. Over to you, Vinod.
Thank you, Govind, and good afternoon, everyone. As Siddhartha mentioned, we recently announced Eicher's 482 small commercial vehicles at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo in New Delhi. While we will cover this more fully in our Q4 update, we are excited about the new range which spans a GVW of 2 to 3.5 tons and addresses a market segment of over 300,000 units per annum. This segment will continue to grow with urbanization, growth of e-commerce, and last-mile delivery. Coming back to Q3, financial year 2024, I am particularly happy to note that it was a record, record quarter for the VECV commercial vehicles with market share gains across the business segments. We recorded our highest-ever Q3 sales of 20,706 units as of December 2024. YTD sales reached 59,828 units, marking a 12.4% increase from the previous year's sale of 53,247 units.
During the quarter, we also began deliveries of India's first electric 5.5-ton GVW truck, the first Eicher Pro 2055 electric vehicle, and continued delivering electric buses to customers across the country. Some further highlights are heavy-duty trucks combining Volvo and Eicher achieved their best-ever Q3 sales with 6,210 units as against last year Q3 of 5,241 units and a market share of 9.6%. Light and medium-duty trucks also hit a Q3 record with 9,800 units as against last year quarter three of 9,239 units, capturing 34.5% market share. The bus division reported its highest Q3 sales ever with 3,409 units, last year Q3 2,376 units. The parts business for both Eicher and Volvo reached an all-time high quarterly sales of INR 5,060 crores, growing by over 22.3% from quarter three of, financial year 2023.
VE Powertrain saw its best Q3 sales yet, with 13,596 units and an increase of over 8% from last year quarter three of 2023. We also inaugurated the International Parts Distribution Center and branch office at Dubai, UAE, marking a commitment to customers in the Middle East segment, the Middle East market. VECV broadened its HD segment footprint by launching the heavy-duty Non-Stop Series Pro 6000, featuring four products: Eicher Pro 6048 XP, Eicher Pro 6055 XP and 6055 4x2, and Eicher Pro 6019 XPT. Now, coming to financials for VE Commercial Vehicles, VECV revenues rose to INR 5,483 crores, up 19% from INR 4,604 crores Q3 of financial year 2023. With this, our YTD revenues, this year first nine months are INR 15,592 crores, from INR 12,752 crores last year first nine months with a growth of 22.2%.
EBITDA for the quarter is INR 437 crore, up 44% from INR 304 crore last year quarter three, and EBITDA margin is 8% as against 6.6% in Q3 of last year. Profit after tax is INR 210 crore, up from INR 117 crore, in Q3 of last year. Now I hand over back to Siddhartha for any last comments.
I was just looking at the revenue. INR 5,000-nearly 5,500 crores, you know. That's outstanding. I think we have a healthy internal competition between RE and VECV for revenue. So this time, VECV has really taken off on the revenue side, but now VECV needs to catch up on the profit side. So yeah, I think it's, it'sI mean, INR 5,500 crores, that's a huge, quarterly revenue. Excellent. And the profit margins are all coming up now strongly. So it's been, an excellent first three quarters, and we are really confident of closing the year well as well at EML, this year. Our trust on, keeping, sharp on our priorities and objectives and working very hard towards our goals and being very sharp, strong, and ensuring that we leave no stone unturned while, getting to our goals that we've set out for ourselves.
I'm very confident with this extremely focused approach that we have at EML. We'll continue to build on our strong growth momentum and our strong base that we have and the strong, extremely strong brands that we hold in both the businesses. Thank you very much once again for listening to us and for joining us for EML's earnings call. We'll now move on to question and answers. Thank you.
Thanks, sir. Let's start the Q&A session. We have the first question coming from Kapil Singh. Kapil, please unmute yourself and ask.
Hi. Good afternoon, sir. First of all, congratulations for the wonderful launches that we have seen. If you could talk about the launch plan going ahead, we have been talking about, you know, one new launch every quarter. So is that kind of pace still expected to continue over the next two years? And within your portfolio, where do you see higher growth coming through? Do you expect the premium segment will gain share over the next two years within your portfolio?
So, Kapil, in last quarter, we launched the 450cc Sherpa platform, new Himalayan, with all the new things in the motorcycle of first of its kind. For us, a liquid-cooled engine platform for Royal Enfield. Ride-by-wire, the Tripper Dash, all those things are new. When we launched, it's an outstanding response, and the booking has been very good. We are quite happy about it. I'm sure you'll be looking at what's the percentage and numbers. I'm not going to talk about that. But it's a—it's a very, very happy situation to be in. On the 650 platform, we also launched the Shotgun. We just launched in the USA, which is also very good. The response is very nice. It is actually inspired by custom—for custom Shotgun, which is also a motorcycle. You know, we always wanted to bring it to the—the world, which is accepted very well.
Very recently, we launched it at California. All those new motorcycles which are launched. This is really picking up. There's a good response. Acceptance is very, very good. Hunter, which we launched, has been doing very well. So with the backup of new products, our growth is continuing. Bookings are very nice. You will see a lineup of new products which will get launched one after the other. We will time it. We will give time for the products which are launched to stabilize also to some extent and get accepted in the market. We will keep launching. We are, our lineup is intact, and we are, we are bullish about it
Okay.
Just to add, we've had a great year of launches. We have lots of new launches coming up. But I think the most important thing now, with the bulk of really important products already in the market Royal Enfield, of course, we have other very exciting ones coming, but is to really now focus on the existing products and how to keep improving those and getting more out of those. So there's a huge effort on that in the coming financial year as well.
Thanks, Sid. Actually, that leads me to my second question. You know, we have, you know, retail sales have been a little bit soft for the industry, if I see, even for Royal Enfield, you know, Q3 and last one or two months. So what is your reading of this, you know, that is causing this softness? Any factors here, and what are the steps that you are taking to drive growth from these levels?
Are you saying the retails are soft? Is that what you're asking?
Yes, sir, because if you see, I mean, as per the retail data, I mean, last year third quarter was also about 200,000 kind of numbers, right? And, in January and February, rates also seem to be a little bit slower. Whereas if you see the industry, you know, we've seen much stronger growth rates in the recent times. So when we met last time, you said, you know, festive season, the growth rate was about 14, 13, 14%. So just wanted some context from your side, as to how you are seeing things.
You know, all our new launches have been in an outstanding response. The booking has been very good. Actually, in Q3, we have seen a healthy growth even in the retail for us. The market expansion, the premium motorcycle with the new entrants, a lot of focus on the middle weight, which is—which is happening, which is actually helping us also. Our products propositions are very good. Customers are very happy about it. You know, month-on-month basis, we normally look at it. We don't want to build inventory. To that extent, we'll be looking at 2024 new models which we are doing. We actually brought a new colorways into the Hunter. So that's how we always look at it, that the channel is not strained. Otherwise, we are pretty happy with the retail situation in this quarter.
Also, during this quarter, the products which are launched, especially Himalayan and the Shotgun, both the bookings have been very good.
Understood, sir. So we'll be, you know, benefiting from the supply of these, I guess, in the coming quarter. Thanks, sir. That's all from my side.
Thanks, Kapil. Next, we have a question from Pramod Kumar. Pramod, please unmute yourself.
Yeah. Hi. Can you hear me?
Yes. Yes.
Yes.
Hey.
Hi. I thank—thanks a lot for the opportunity. My first question is actually to Vinod, sir. Sir, we have seen that Volvo Eicher has not been participating in any e-buses orders, tenders as such, though between you and Volvo, I think you have all the global expertise on electric buses. So if you can just help us understand what's kind of holding us back in terms of participating in these government orders, especially the STU orders, sir.
No, we are participating. Last tender, we have filed our bid there. Of course, till now, I think there were problems with respect to the payment security mechanism. That has been resolved now. We have participated in the tender now that still the results have to come, that who is L1 or so. But we have participated.
How do you see the profitability and the viability of the segment, sir? Because you've got, like, a couple of new entrants who are traditionally not OEMs as such, and there's very aggressive bidding which has happened, and some of the players are kind of, revising their strategy as well on the bidding process. So how do you see the profitability evolving? Because this is going to be a big shift from the push from the government, right? Electrification of the—especially the intracity bus market. So what could be the longer-term implication for the industry in terms of both the exposing your balance sheet and the profitability of the business itself compared to the ICE portfolio, sir?
No, irrespective of push from anywhere, government or anywhere else, the profitability has to be there. Like, we don't believe in participating just for the sake of getting the numbers. So if there is profitability, reasonable profitability, only then we participate. So therefore, we will not compromise on the basic minimum profitability. So if we get the order at that rate, that's fine. Otherwise, otherwise, that's fine. Because we will not—we will not get into losses, just to participate.
Fair enough, sir. We'll wait for the.
That's why last time also we didn't participate when the payment security mechanism was not there. We didn't participate because we don't want to take exposure on STUs for 12 years, if we don't have the, you know, clear guarantee on the payment.
So the payment, tenure is almost 12 years, sir, for these assets?
12 years. 12 years.
Wow. And you also need to take a call on the residual value of the asset and that technology depreciation, all of that, right, when you kind of make those bids?
No, 12 years, the asset will pay for itself. So therefore, the assets remains your property. It's on lease to the STUs. After 12 years, if you get anything, that will be accepted.
Sounds good. Sir, second question is on the Royal Enfield side. Siddhartha and Govind, both of you can help us out here. We just launched the Himalayan 450. Expectation is that that engine will also spawn a lot of new motorcycles, which will be more on the on-road segment. So how should one look at the potential customer base here? Will it be the potential Classic 350 customers who we will be kind of targeting or it will appeal more to? Or is it—can it also result in some bit of an upgrade ladder kicking in with your existing Royal Enfield 350cc customers? It's a pretty large installed base in the market. Can they kind of be looked at as, can this bike or the new launches come across as an upgrade ladder for them?
Because we've not seen that play out with the new J-Series launch, of the Classic 350 a couple of three years back. So, is the 450—how is the thinking at your end, when you look at this product and what it can do to the replacement cycle or the upgrade cycle within the Royal Enfield family?
Yeah. Pramod, absolutely. I think it's extremely well said. I mean, we've been working on this platform, Sherpa platform, for many years. Of course, like you said, the first motorcycle is the Himalayan. We will have others over time. It's difficult to say exactly because we have many different segments that this will touch. There is, firstly, the entire international markets where a higher performance segment is more interesting. So this is very much geared up for a lot of our international markets where the speeds are also higher, right, in those markets. So the running highway speeds are 120, 130 km, in which a J-Series is not then therefore a proper highway motorcycle. So therefore, the Sherpa and that comes in. In India, of course, there's no question at all in our minds. We have over six million active 350cc customers.
That means UCE and now J-Series. So this is very much catering to their upgrade cycle. Of course, we also expect and do have quite a few first-time customers. We do expect a lot more people to come from the older Himalayan to the new Himalayan. But even the bulk of Classic Bullet customers that we've had in the last 6, 8 years, this is very much geared for the future motorcycles. The Himalayan and the future motorcycles in this platform are very much geared for upgradation cycle for those customers, as is our twins, right? So it depends what kind of experience you want. If you want, let's say, yeah, a slightly lighter, more, sportier style, then you've got the Sherpa platform. If you want a bigger, more full style with extreme refinement, all of that, you've got the twins as well, right?
So we're certainly going to cater to our UCE upgraders, as it were. Govind?
Yeah. So, Pramod, just to add on, Pramod, just to clarify, what Siddhartha is talking about is, in a J platform, when the platform was launched through the Meteor, which had become a very successful product for us, then we came out with the Classic, then Bullet, and we also launched Hunter. So your particular platform, when we actually envisage and we think through it, how it can spun off to different motorcycles, giving you different experiences to the consumers. So K platform also, when we were conceiving it, designing, developing it, and all those things, it should help us to come out with more motorcycles with different experiences. So this platform also will lend more motorcycles in time to come, starting the Himalayan 411, which has changed to the Sherpa platform 450 now. Acceptance has been very good.
When the platform has to get accepted, then the scale has to be brought. That's how the new motorcycles have to come in over the period of time.
Last question from my side on the—what do you say—the competition bit. I don't see any direct comments on the competitors as such. But how have you seen the customer engagement at your end in terms of the visits to your websites or social media pages and inquiry levels, and also the conversion rate? In cities where you have seen some of the large, some of these recent launches from competition have been active, right? So how are the metrics, the which you use to track customer engagement and customer involvement or customer interest? How have they kind of shaped up in the last three, four months, if you can just shed some light on that? Because what we understand is the competition models are like kind of even they are not seeing any great demand.
The waiting periods are off. But I just want to understand, is it got to do with the overall segment seeing a bit of moderation in demand, or—or are we seeing some hit to our volumes because of cannibalization because of competition as well?
So, Pramod, you know, competition will get aside. So what we are doing, what is that our metrics? I'll just talk about that. Our inquiry rate during this quarter has actually gone up by almost about 15%-16% compared to the earlier thing. Our conversion percentage also has been very good. You know, the booking has been very good. It's almost about 11%-12%, which is a growth, which is there even in the booking during this quarter. And the new products which we launched, the Sherpa platform 450, CC, and the Shotgun, both, the inquiries, bookings, and the interest are very good. And it's in a very happy situation. You know, that's the if that way to look at it, there is a lot of positive vibe which we get from the market.
Sounds good. Thanks a lot . Thank you.
Thanks, Pramod. Next, we have a question from Binay Singh. Unmute, please.
Hi, team. Thanks for the opportunity. Two questions from my side. First, on exports, in the opening comment, we talked about exports on retail basis growing over nine months, whereas when we see the wholesale data, it's down around 26%. So why such a wide gap? And when do you see the dispatchers also sort of starting to post growth? Like, is this inventory clearance? The second question is on the Assured Buyback program. I believe we started it in mid-October in 12 cities, and then we started the Reown program also last quarter. So what is the response to these two programs? What percentage of sales are coming from there? And also, what are the costs associated on these, and where do they show up in the books for Royal Enfield, if any? These two. Thank you.
Yeah. So first, maybe on the international business, we will talk about that, right? That's what we are mentioning. You know, we all know you guys have been tracking the macroeconomic indicators. We can't just let that ignore in the international market. That's a reality. The reality is, even now, there are countries in which if you send the motorcycles, the payment, you will receive it only after about 120 days. So you have to give an unsecured credit period. That's not a good sign. The second is the customer sentiments in some areas are not good. The energy cost in Europe, even though there is a slight amount of positivism, the sentiments haven't come back in that same speed. Australia, once again, if you look at the inflation and the interest rate, which has gone up at least 12 times continuously.
So international market, there is sentiment-wise, it's not so in a good situation. But we are seeing some amount of opening up in those markets slowly, especially in Thailand. I saw some amount of opening up in the last month. As far as we are concerned, what's happening is our focus is as of now in retail. We are all thinking that the market will be very good. Based on that, we envisaged international markets, the wholesale numbers, because there is a season, and there is also a lead time for logistics. All put together, we have to store. That's how we also held the motorcycles. Now, when we saw the conditions, we also said that, "Okay, that's not the way. We'll start focusing more on retail." That way, I've been saying that the retail has been very good. Wholesalers, it's a question of time.
When the market is actually coming up to some good level in the sentiments, we will start looking at the numbers. At what point of time, if I have to ask me personally, I can tell you, it's maybe I see it in another about 2-3 quarters, you will see a growth compared to this year. But it has to be seen country by country. What we have to look at is whether our products are accepted very well. Our Sherpa platform, new Himalayan, which has been accepted very well, it will be available to Europe in another month or 2. Our Shotgun, which has been just launched in the U.S., that will also be available. Super Meteor, we were actually giving it in India. Now, we are actually opening up into international markets slowly. The dispatches are taking place.
So the new products, and also on GT and Interceptor, we have given a new colors. So all those things are also creating an excitement into the international market. We are doing what is required for a long term. As I always say, we are a long-term aggressive company. So to that extent, in the international market, we see there is a huge potential for us to grow. For that, whatever is to be done as a base to be set for that future, that's what we are doing. Once the market opens up, you will really see a growth for Royal Enfield. The second one which you talked about is,
Where the cost, some part of it in marketing cost and some part of it in employee cost, depending on where the component is. We, of course, track it internally separately. But for this, it's grouped into multiple areas.
Assured Buyback system, buyback as a scheme, it's a first of its kind because.
Assured Buyback, we don't really have a cost associated with it.
That's right. That's not a cost associated to that. That's an ease to the consumer, from ownership to usership. Subscription model over ownership is in need of it. So we are preparing for any requirement where the consumer wants to enjoy the Royal Enfield motorcycles. So we should be there. Reown, as Siddhartha was mentioning, we had almost about 6.5 million motorcycles which are there, sold by us, which have got added from 2011 to 2023. And the upgrade cycle will kick in at a point of time. For that, we should be ready to give you a frictionless process for the consumer. And that's why we thought, "Okay, we'll bring out with an Assured Buyback scheme." And that program, we are launching it. Not that we wanted to scale it as a separate business line immediately.
We'll go slow, but we know this will help us for our consumers when they want to upgrade. That's why we are preparing ourselves well.
Great, team. Thanks for the response.
Thanks. Next, we have a question from Gunjan Prithyani. Please unmute.
Yeah. Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. I had a couple of follow-ups. Firstly, on the, you know, on the P&L side, if you can just share some thoughts on what's really driving the ASP movement quarter on quarter. Then, you know, were there any price hikes taken? And there were quite a few events, new launches that happened in the last couple of months. So is there any one-off element to the other expenses that we should keep in mind, you know, which is not going to repeat or recur in the upcoming quarter?
I think as far as the ASP increase is concerned, we've had new products which have come in which have kind of altered the mix. And also, you know, a little bit of, which is really resulting in the domestic, you know, market ASP movement. And as far as international is concerned, of course, there's been a bit of a change as far as since international expenses have been slightly lower. So that's as far as that goes. And in marketing spend, we have taken, launch some of the launch expenses as well as the Motoverse expenses are kicking in this quarter. Having said that, I think we obviously have other launches which will keep coming up. So it's really difficult to guide, saying that that's not going to be the case at all going forward.
Okay. Do you wish we shouldn't sort of take it as one-off? You know, this is, you know, you expect the marketing spend.
One-off element associated with it. So I think approximately, you could say, about INR 20 crore has increased versus previous quarter, which is on account of a larger number of launches in this particular quarter.
Okay. Got it. The second follow-up I had was on, you know, Himalayan, Bullet, which you all, you know, sort of talk about how the response has been really great. If you can share a little bit more color on how should we think of, you know, particularly, let's say, Himalayan, what are the sort of, you know, bookings that you're seeing? You know, is there a wait period that you can talk about? You know, some sense, you know, which gives us comfort that, "Okay, these are the new launches which we're yet to see, you know, reflecting in terms of scale-up." You know, that sort of view where I'm coming from is because I'm not seeing that retail trend sort of improving post the festive. It's been quite, you know, underwhelming post-festive.
Maybe we are not clearly picking up the potential of the new launches. If you can talk about these launches, it'll be great.
You know, Gunjan, we don't give the specific numbers on the booking and all those. But what I can add is that in the last the Himalayan 450 and the Sherpa platform, when we launched, it's a new engine. There are new technologies which are added into this. So we are also not a company. We'll go very aggressively to say that, "Okay, there's so much of a motorcycle, we can just take it to the market." We normally go in a slow pace. That's what we want it to be because the consumer should enjoy the motorcycle. I can tell you in this two things. I think first time we are going to talk about, we have already sold almost about 6,500 numbers, of this motorcycle.
Ours, because for the international market, we also have to be looking at some dispatches to catch up to the season. It's in the ramp-up phase. You will see the numbers of the Himalayan coming back. The interest on the new Himalayan is really very high. It is, you know, it is—it's a, as Siddhartha was mentioning, it's in a white space because in the market outside India, where they also want the speed which can also be used into the main motorways, this platform—it actually helps for the adventure tourer, for the exploration, and also for the long commute, which is also possible in this motorcycle. You know, that's all. There is a positivity which we see with the new Himalayan, little known in India, even outside India.
Okay. On Bullet, any wait periods, anything that we should, you know, expect that there's further scale-up to go from here?
You know, the Bullet, we I think we did a good job of carrying that legacy to the next generation. We really did a good job, I suppose. I always tell the team, because it's very, very tough to actually tell exactly what it is. But I think we have landed it properly. Post-launch, I'm seeing the growth has been very good. In fact, if I'm right, I think we grew almost about 17% in the Bullet compared to last year. So in all the markets, the acceptance has been very good.
Okay. And, just last.
Thanks, Gunjan. Please come back to the queue. Not many people are waiting. Yeah. Next, we have a question from Amyn Pirani. Please unmute yourself.
Yes. Hi. Thanks for the opportunity. I just wanted to, you know, dig a little deeper on the export side. You know, you mentioned that, in the U.K., you are now the top brand in the middleweight category. And I think even in some of the European and U.S. market, I think you mentioned, you know, high single-digit market share. So given that these markets are not necessarily high-growth markets for the category, will our ramp-up here be driven by, you know, gaining market share further, or do you think that you will be launching products which could expand the middleweight category, if I'm thinking from a next two to three-year perspective?
Maybe I can try and take that. You know, when you're a smaller player, I think to try and expand the market is generally not going to be possible. So right now, it's very much a case of taking share. Of course, I mean, and case in point, the previous example that Govindarajan given on Himalayan, you know, obviously, you know, we're all a bit colored by our latest product. But the Himalayan is truly something that is extremely differentiated globally. We've you know, earlier, our products were extremely differentiated and, I mean, top of the line in India. But now, this one, even global perspective, is extremely different. There's nothing like that in middleweights at all.
So, of course, to some extent, we think it'll grow the market in certain parts of the world, just because, you know, it will create interest and demand where there wasn't any previously in middleweights for something like an adventure tourer. And so I think the time is now coming where we will start slightly expanding the market. But largely, we're still looking at gaining share, right, because all our other products that we're talking about are, you know, our Classics, our Meteors, our Hunters, our Interceptors, GTs, Super Meteors; they're all competing a bit more directly. They're all going to be, you know, if someone's going to buy one of ours, they're not going to buy somebody else's. So it is going to be gaining share, essentially.
But we're very confident of doing that as well, of gaining share, which we have been showing, and we are continuing to do. And but hopefully not hopefully. We believe that one more leap with the Himalayan, which has not touched the show, you know, I would say, in India, it has not even arrived yet. It's still to happen in 2024.
Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for that. And domestic side, you know, one question specifically on Hunter. We have seen the, you know, volumes, you know, stabilize at a certain level. In fact, in the last three to four months, we've started to see a YoY weakness also. So, are there? Okay. Does the market need some more variants, according to you, or more refreshes? Or do you think that the Hunter in its current form has this kind of a addressable market? You may have to launch different products to expand, you know, the addressable market in that INR 170,000-190,000 price point.
So I think Hunter, we launched in August 2022. You know, till now, we have almost sold about 275,000 motorcycles of the Hunter, in the domestic. In last month, we actually came out with the two new color variants also, the Dapper Green and the Dapper Orange. So those two colors, which we wanted to bring into the market because we thought, in a year, there's new color addition. That's what the market wants. We felt that that's the right thing to do for the brand because it's value new brand for Royal Enfield Hunter.
And the good news is, we always wanted it has to get us, the new set of consumers, the young consumers who always wanted brand Royal Enfield, but they wanted a motorcycle at a different format. And that, the question which, the consumers were looking at, our riders were looking at, I think we have addressed it squarely. Last time, also, we discussed that maybe a rural, push has to be there. In fact, our growth in the rural market also has been very good, compared to the, the urban-centric, states. So it's in a good space. Because of the new variants, 2024 models, all those things, we also worked on, the numbers which has to be built. So you will see once again the Hunter coming back into the numbers.
Sure. Look forward to that, sir. Thank you.
Thanks, Amyn. Next question is from Arvind Sharma. Please unmute.
Yeah. Hi. Good evening, sir. Thank you for taking my question. Again, on the domestic demand side, sir, in terms of monthly volumes, overall wholesale that you report, there's been some moderation or other plateauing at the 70-72,000 units. When you make your annual or, you know, slightly longer-term projections, where do you see this number going? And what would be the next driver of this monthly volume? So that's my first question, sir.
One big question. That's not going to be a first question. You know, 70,000 is a it's a very good number, guys, I mean, per month in the domestic. And, you know, what we always look at is, is there a is there an interest for the brand Royal Enfield? And, you know, wholesale is an the, the way we talk to the dealers and then do it. That's not what our focus is always. Our focus is, how is the inquiry? Is there enough interest on the brand Royal Enfield? Is there enough interest on the product which we have launched into the market? And it is supposed to give them a particular set of an experience to the consumers. Is that being delivered? How they are taking it. That's what is the focus always.
And get more people onto the ride, get more people onto the saddle of Royal Enfield, let them all enjoy the motorcycle. That's what the focus is. That way, Hunter had been very successful for us in the last year. Now, we have launched the, the all-new Sherpa platform 450 Himalayan, which is also catching up. The Shotgun, which we launched, there's a lot of interest which is coming up. So the, the positive side which I'm seeing is, is that there's a lot of interest for brand Royal Enfield. The inquiries are going up. The booking is coming up now. And that's why we see the numbers going up in, in time to come. I'm sure you're looking at exact numbers. That's not the way we go.
No, no, sir. Just, what you said, was exactly what we're looking for in terms of how do you see the numbers growing? So second question would be the electric vehicles. You did showcase a prototype. Anything that you can share in terms of the broader plans, going forward? I know it's too early. But, anything that you can share, maybe in volumes or in size or usage?
Too early to be talking about EV numbers and all those things. Just as, as investors, I'm just adding up. As last time, we said that we are working on dedicated team of about 100 people. The team size has gone to almost about 140. And there are a lot of guys who are working in the software have actually come in now. We are just looking at what sort of an experience which we can give it in the software side. That's also being worked on. During this time, our focus had been on supplier finalization, the automation which is required, and what are all the quality parameters which we have to bring in. So our focus had been onto the operationalizing of that and the detailed design of it. So to that extent, the work is going on in full speed.
Sure. Thank you so much, sir. That's all from my side.
Thanks, Arvind. Next, we have a question from Mihir Jhaveri.
Am I audible?
Yes, Mihir.
Yeah. Just a question on, first on VECV. So basically, we have seen that the two largest players have sounded a cautious alarm for the next six to nine months in terms of demand, including Q4. So how do we and we saw it in terms of particularly in, in the CV segment, for the quarter next in terms of demand, as well as anything you want to guide for, for FY 2025, in terms of demand from, from CV perspective? And overall, on a and second question would be with regards to, RE and overall margins. So have we seen the major benefits of commodity, into the, into the this quarter? Or is there something else which will still come in? And, on RE, if you can, throw some light in terms of the inventory situation and, whether there is any, waiting period in any of the models.
Okay. I will take first on the VECV market outlook. So fundamentally, if you look at the commercial vehicle market, it is driven by fundamental factors of firstly the economy, secondly the replacement demand, and thirdly the infrastructure investments. So if you look at all these three fundamental factors, I think they are all three factors very, very positive. Economy is doing well, Indian economy. And there is good outlook also that from $3.7 trillion the market economy should go up to $5 or $7 trillion in the next three to five years. The second fundamental factor is the replacement market. On the replacement market front, there is huge need to replace the old trucks.
For example, the entire population of BS-III and BS-IV old trucks that is going to come up for replacement because the new trucks they are much more productive, much more efficient, and they can they can meet the requirements of the new-age customers. For example, if the delivery has to happen in a certain time, it has to happen with certain speed. Or if you have to drive the trucks in the new roads, you need certain horsepower and then connectivity and all the productivity things linked to the connectivity. Like, for example, we provide predictive maintenance services or uptime services. All these things are possible only with the new-age trucks. So therefore, it makes a very good business case to replace all the old trucks. And old trucks, if they continue with that, they will not they may not get the right business from the new customers.
So therefore, you will see more and more replacements happening. The third fundamental factor is the infrastructure investments. The government is continuing to have a very strong program on the infrastructure. And you will see more and more investments coming in, which means more demand for steel and more demand for cement, more demand for construction trucks. So therefore, I think all these, fundamental factors are in place. Now, if you look at month-on-month or quarter-on-quarter, there may be short-term hiccups here and there. So that's, I think we should not worry about that. But overall, if you take a medium-term view, the commercial vehicle industry is likely to remain very good. You said, Vidhya?
Yeah. As far as RE is concerned, you know, I think your question was around any benefits we are getting from pricing on commodities. So I think if you see largely the major categories of commodities, steel has been pretty much stable for most of the year. Aluminum has also been range-bound. And as far as precious metals, we are seeing some benefits. But they are relatively a smaller cost as far as the overall material cost is concerned. We've been consistently talking about a 0.9% benefit that we're getting in the margins on account of commodities YoY. So that is what I'd like to continue to maintain. And I'm not necessarily seeing too much of a tailwind at this point. But we are observing the situation as it moves forward.
Yeah.
Yeah. And I think there's a I think one final question was there on backlog. I think we're talking the order backlog is pretty healthy, I think, I would say, about 3-4 weeks. And obviously, it varies as per product.
Thank you.
Thanks, Mihir. Next question is from Chandramouli.
Hi. Good evening. And thank you for taking my questions. My first question is just, trying to understand the ASP improvement, a little bit better. It's got a, as you mentioned, a lot of new products and refreshes, in there. Just trying to understand specifically on the Himalayan 411cc versus 452cc, going forward, do we expect a large majority of our sales to come from 452cc? And is there any residual sort of 411cc models in there that will continue to market?
On an ASP, Vidhya, you have some specific anything?
I think ASP had already talked about it.
Okay. So Chandramouli, you were asking about the Himalayan 450cc. And is there a residual model in 411cc? Is that the question?
Correct. Correct.
Well, I think 411cc was the Himalayan which we launched in 2016 first. Now, the new Himalayan, the Sherpa platform, is 450cc water-cooled. That's done in the Himalayan. As we were talking about, this platform will lend for new products at a later point of time. As of now, we have this Scram 411 in the 411cc platform, 411cc. That's continuing.
Got it. Got it. And of the 6,500 units that you mentioned on 450, is that all just for the December quarter? Or, is that sort of sales as of date?
It's December, some is still over in the first quarter, the first week of January, I suppose.
Got it.
Actually, I said it is a consolidated level from the launch what we have actually sold.
Got it. That's helpful. My second question is just around logistics, just given some of these recent issues around the Red Sea and Europe being an important market for you. Just trying to understand, is there any delays or inflation in freight rates that you're experiencing from some of the Red Sea issue? I understand you also spoke about sort of this being a stock-up quarter ahead of the riding season in some of your key export markets. So just trying to understand sort of the logistical situation a little bit better.
Did you want to?
Yeah. So I think, like you said, obviously, we are watching the Red Sea situation. And there's been an impact, so if you see, you know, some of the shipment charges have seen an increase of somewhere between 25%-30%. But I think slowly, there—I mean, we'll watch how it moves. That's for specific routes, not across the board. And shipment duration has increased by about 30 days, you know, from—so I think that's essentially the impact we're seeing right now.
Got it. That's helpful. And just lastly, around the U.K. distribution, a couple of quarters back, you mentioned that you're bringing that in-house. So just trying to understand if, you know, the entire process of bringing the inventory in-house, and sort of settlement with the existing distribution partner, if all of that is done and if that has any sort of positive margin implications going forward if that process is now behind us.
Yeah. So I think, more or less, you know, the process of bringing, I mean, setting up a subsidiary, establishing the team over there, looking at local warehousing, all of that is done. There's a little bit of inventory shift over and all of that which is happening and which would probably happen till, you know, the first or second quarter of next year. But after that, I would imagine that that would be subsidiary over.
Just to add on, Chandramouli, you know, the need for actually taking over the financial comes at a later point of time. It's primarily it is a very important market for us. And we have to connect to the consumer directly because we are growing. That's why we went into that, as an initiative. And it has found out to be financially also, it is very helpful for us. So what we wanted is taking over the inventory, signing up with all the dealers, crowdfunding with the financiers. All those things are one by one, one by one, getting sorted. It is not an easy one. I think the team has done a good job of bringing all those things in stream. You will see in time to come those things getting approved into the P&L.
Got it. Thank you very much. And all the best.
Thanks, Chandramouli. Due to time constraints, that was the last question. Over to you, Siddhartha, for your closing comments.
Good. Just thank you all for joining us and for this, for the update. We've had a very good first 10 months to the year. We've got two more months to go. It all seems good and on track. Lots of other interesting things coming from EML. So look forward to talking to you in three months. All the very best. Thank you very much. And bye-bye from all of us. Thank you. Thank you,
Thank you.