[fz_rider]

I'm just baffled by the decision of Yamaha for targeting just girls with a product which wont look bad on boys . Leaving aside the shades , the design of Ray is brilliant , has a youthful tone . Employing women in almost every procedure is no doubt a good move . But just tagging Ray as a girls scooter may leave a bad taste . Yamaha had a few examples infront of it , Kinetic ( Mahindra ) Flyte and Hero Honda ( Hero ) Pleasure . Both targeted towards fairer sex , didn't fly of the shelves .
Lets take the Flyte first . Kinetic could have targeted college students with it . My sis owns one , and I can tell you its quite a package . Zippy engine , compact body and good brakes . Still , you see the results .
Second , the Pleasure . A Honda Activa clone , could have done wonders for Hero , just because of Hero badge . But the Boys kept away from it .
There is high percentage of urban youth which start of with an automatic scooter . In addition to it , the growing trafic favors the automatic scooters . So there is a huge market for scooters . Auto makers shouldn't tag themselves to a particular audience .
It will be really interesting to see the market reaction , after the initial hype fades .
Your take !

[blue_pulsar]

Originally Posted by fz_rider

...the Pleasure . A Honda Activa clone , could have done wonders for Hero , just because of Hero badge . But the Boys kept away from it .
There is high percentage of urban youth which start of with an automatic scooter . In addition to it , the growing trafic favors the automatic scooters . So there is a huge market for scooters . Auto makers shouldn't tag themselves to a particular audience ...

I am not exactly convinced by your analysis. Till date, I have seen more uncles riding HH Pleasure than ladies. Urban dudes will always prefer bikes over scooters, at least a huge majority of them. Especially with the current Indian biking scene. Now coming to middle age folks, I don't think majority are really bothered if its a boy thing or why should boys have all the fun. They would just go with tired and tested scooter, that is Activa. In fact, I'm surprised that an ordinary automatic scooter commands months of waiting when even the Swift commanding a waiting period is completely unacceptable. Over and above that, Honda has an alternative to Activa, which is the Dio. The Dio looks stylish and comes with Honda reliability and the Activa engine. So Honda have all bases covered. Inspite of Honda having such horrendous service, no other scooter has taken away Honda's share from scooter market is the proof of what I just explained.

[fz_rider]

Originally Posted by blue_pulsar

I have seen more uncles riding HH Pleasure than ladies.

But have you seen guys between age group 16 - 30 riding it ? Agreed , you have seen uncles riding pleasure , but don't you think it could have fared better if HH did sell it as family scooter .

[hillram]

IMHO..these so called scooterettes in India are used equally by both the sexes.Starting from Kinetic Honda in the 90s,which was meant for ladies till the Activas,I have seen a college kid to a septugenarian riding them.
I own a 2012 Vespa LX 125 which is again meant for a college kid to an aficianado.

Coming to Yamaha launching Ray for ladies,I think it is also a scooterette meant for both the sexes.