Honda Shine Took Nearly All of India’s 125cc Growth

Honda’s Shine and SP125 added 38,091 units in July 2026, covering 93 percent of India’s 125cc motorcycle growth. The tracked class rose 16.89 percent to 282,726 units, while Bajaj Auto’s Pulsar 125 and NS125 together fell 15,702 units.

Rajesh Menon, director general of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, said the industry’s strongest July on record included 1,923,483 two-wheelers, up 22.6 percent. Motorcycles were 1,074,796 of that, so this 125cc set is about one bike in four. The month still belongs to one nameplate.

Honda Shine Took Nearly All of the Growth

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India dispatched 176,756 Shine and SP125 bikes in July, up 27.47 percent from 138,665 a year earlier and 15.97 percent from 152,415 in June. Add the Hornet 125’s 3,859 units and Honda’s 125cc total is 180,615, a 63.88% share of the counted class.

The Shine is the 123.94cc PGM-FI commuter motorcycle Honda has sold since 2006, and it now sits next to a sportier SP125 on the same engine family. Honda’s 125cc line in July was only those two plus Hornet. A year earlier Honda needed about 17,800 other 125cc bikes to reach 156,473, which is why the company’s 125cc total rose 24,142 units, 15.43 percent, even as Shine alone added 38,091.

Tsutsumu Otani, managing director of HMSI, put the pitch in plain terms when the OBD2B Shine 125 reached dealers, with the Shine 125 from Rs 84,493 in Delhi on the drum variant and Rs 89,245 on disc.

Since its debut in 2006, the Shine has remained the most loved motorcycle in its segment, earning the trust of millions of Indian customers.

Tsutsumu Otani, Managing Director, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India

HMSI’s July statement put domestic sales at 476,436 units, up 2.17 percent, and pointed to more than 7,000 touchpoints. Activa still led Honda with 206,170 scooters, but that was 13.16 percent down, and the gap over Shine and SP125 shrank to 29,414 units. Two-wheelers had already reached 5.63 million two-wheelers in Q1 of FY2026-27, up 20.3 percent, before this July print.

JULY 2026 125CC DISPATCHES

Month-on-month, the class rose 6.73 percent from 264,897 units. Shine and SP125 did most of that too, adding 24,341 units against June.

15,702 Fewer Pulsars Than Last July

Pulsar 125 and NS125 combined sold 25,604 units, third in the table and down 38.01% from 41,306. The sequential dip was small, 2.60 percent from 26,288, so this is a year-long slide, not a one-month blip. Across all Pulsar badges, July dispatches were 66,156, down 17.12 percent from 79,817, which means the 125s did more than their share of the damage.

Bajaj spent late July celebrating the name. The Pulsar 25-year campaign in July ran from 21 July to 4 September 2026, with Sumeet Narang, president of marketing, calling Pulsar a brand that had enabled millions of first rides. The 125 that actually left factories that month was still the old one. The new Pulsar 125, new engine, new frame, new console, reached dealers on 24 August 2026, after the books had closed.

The refresh starts at Rs 92,990 ex-showroom Delhi and runs to Rs 104,318. The 124.58cc air-cooled motor is rated 12.1 PS at 8,500 rpm and 11.4 Nm at 6,500 rpm, a 0.3 PS and 0.6 Nm bump. Kerb weight is 131 kg against 146 kg on the outgoing bike, the tank is 11 litres against 15, and every variant uses a 260 mm front disc, a 130 mm rear drum and CBS. There is no ABS. The top trim adds about Rs 10,000 over the old range-topper and still stops without anti-lock.

Hero’s Split Inside the Same Showroom

Hero MotoCorp is second in the 125cc class with 40,690 units and a 14.39 percent share, but that total fell 6.28 percent from June even as one of its three bikes had the strongest year-on-year gain in the table. The mix is doing the work, not a single Hero 125 story.

HERO’S THREE 125S IN JULY

• Splendor 125: 17,999 units, up 44.13 percent from 12,488 and 11.32 percent from 16,168, the commuter that is actually growing.
• Glamour: 12,995 units, up 21.49 percent year on year and down 7.36 percent from June, before the ABS variant priced at Rs 101,000 on 11 September 2026.
• Xtreme 125R: 9,696 units, down 21.09 percent year on year and 3,524 units, 26.66 percent, from June’s 13,220.

Splendor 125 is a different machine from the Splendor that led all Indian two-wheelers with 335,346 units in July. That bigger number is the 100cc family. The 125 is the one stealing a little of Honda’s commuter air, and even at 17,999 it is still about one-tenth of Shine and SP125. Xtreme 125R is the sporty Hero, and it is the one shedding volume fastest month to month.

Why the Raider Is Still the Only No. 2

TVS Motor’s Raider sold 34,125 units, 12.07 percent of the class, with 39.22 percent year-on-year growth from 24,511. It is the only non-Honda bike above 30,000, and it is the eighth-best-selling motorcycle in the country on that print. June was stronger at 36,983, so the sequential 7.73 percent drop is real, and it matches TVS’s 125cc OEM decline because Raider is the whole TVS entry here.

The sporty 125s as a group had a rough month. Pulsar 125 and NS125 at 25,604, Xtreme 125R at 9,696, Hornet 125 at 3,859, and Raider as the exception. Hornet had no July 2025 base, so the year-on-year column is blank, and it still eased 4.90 percent from 4,058 in June. Honda can field a small sporty 125 because Shine is carrying the factory. Bajaj and Hero are asking the sporty bike to do volume work that the commuter next to it is already losing to Shine.

Walk-around clips of the new Pulsar 125 after 24 August keep listing the same kit: diamond frame, monoshock, five-inch screen, crawl mode, ride modes on higher trims. The missing line is ABS. Hero’s Glamour X now advertises single-channel ABS with integrated braking at Rs 101,000, which is a different product fight than July’s, and it started after this chart was already printed.

A CNG Bike and a Vanished KTM

Bajaj plus KTM together sold 27,296 units, 9.65 percent of the class, down 2.60 percent from June. Almost all of that is Pulsar. Freedom, the CNG 125, contributed 1,692 units, down 11.37 percent year on year and 2.59 percent from June. KTM recorded no sales.

JULY’S THIN EDGE

• Freedom 125: 1,692 wholesale units in July after a May retail low of 1,210 on Vahan, with 87,998 cumulative retails through 4 June 2026.
• CNG versus petrol: the gap at launch in July 2024 was about Rs 32 (CNG Rs 75 per kg, petrol about Rs 107 a litre) and by May 2026 it was Rs 25 (CNG Rs 86, petrol Rs 111.21 in Mumbai).
• Where it still sells: Maharashtra 14,874 and Gujarat 14,818, 34 percent of Freedom retails to that June date.
• KTM 125: Duke 125 and RC 125 left the price lists from 1 April 2025 after the company skipped the OBD2B update.

Rakesh Sharma, joint managing director of Bajaj Auto, described the CNG problem on a media call in early May 2026, and said the company was keeping the bike in the range.

For the last many months now, what has happened is that the arbitrage between CNG and petrol has changed to some extent.

Rakesh Sharma, Joint Managing Director, Bajaj Auto

CNG had risen about 15 percent over 23 months, which is the core running-cost pitch wearing out. Filling points are still around 7,000 nationwide. Freedom is not competing with Shine on looks. It is competing with a smaller saving and a thinner pump map, and July’s 1,692 units show how small that fight has become inside a 282,726-unit class.

The August 24 Pulsar Refresh Meets a Honda Wall

The new Pulsar 125 is the product Bajaj will point to when later months are counted. July is not one of those months. The old bike’s 15,702-unit hole is already in the year-on-year base, and Honda does not need a new 125 to hold 63.88 percent.

THE 125CC CLOCK AROUND JULY

1. 1 April 2025: KTM stops Duke 125 and RC 125 in India without an OBD2B update.
2. 21 July 2026: Bajaj opens the Pulsar 25-year rider campaign, running through 4 September 2026.
3. July 2026: Counted 125cc dispatches hit 282,726, with Shine and SP125 at 176,756 and Pulsar 125 plus NS125 at 25,604.
4. 24 August 2026: Bajaj launches the new Pulsar 125 from Rs 92,990, still on CBS.
5. 11 September 2026: Hero prices Glamour X single-channel ABS at Rs 101,000, after July’s Glamour tally.

Raider and Splendor 125 did add 9,614 and 5,511 units year on year. Those gains sit inside the same 40,862-unit net rise that Shine almost filled on its own, because Pulsar’s 15,702-unit drop cancelled a slice of everyone else’s work at the headline. Honda’s share is the fact the other three factories have to ride through festive demand with, and the new Pulsar will print in later charts, not this one.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does the Honda Shine 125 cost in India?

Honda listed the OBD2B Shine 125 at Rs 84,493 for the drum variant and Rs 89,245 for disc, both ex-showroom Delhi, when that update launched on 12 February 2025, and the bike is sold as a 113 kg commuter with CBS rather than ABS.

What engine does the Honda Shine 125 use?

The Shine 125 uses a 123.94cc, single-cylinder, PGM-FI engine that is OBD2B and E20 compliant, rated 7.93 kW at 7,500 rpm and 11 Nm at 6,000 rpm, with an idling-stop system, and Honda’s standard warranty is 3 years or 42,000 km, whichever comes first.

Does the 2026 Bajaj Pulsar 125 come with ABS?

No variant of the 24 August 2026 Pulsar 125 has ABS; every bike uses CBS with a 260 mm front disc and a 130 mm rear drum, while higher trims add a five-inch TFT, ride modes and a Type-C port that the base Standard at Rs 92,990 does not fully match.

Why did KTM post zero 125cc sales in July 2026?

KTM India pulled the Duke 125 and RC 125 from sale from 1 April 2025 because those engines were not updated for OBD2B, so a zero in July 2026 is an empty pipeline, not a slow month, and leftover dealer stock was meant to clear after that cutoff.

How many CNG stations can a Bajaj Freedom 125 use?

India had around 7,000 CNG filling stations when Freedom’s sales slide was discussed in May 2026, with plans cited to pass 13,000 and reach about 17,000 by 2030, which is still a thinner map than petrol and a reason the bike’s 1,692 July units stayed a rounding error in the 125cc class.