Sales of 500+ cc bikes fall in 2017-18. Why?

[GTO]

Consider the stats: According the SIAM, between April and February, sales in the 500cc-plus segment fell to 5,881 units from 6,790 a year ago. In contrast, the 200-500cc market is vrooming with sales up nearly 21% in the April-February period. This segment has gone from 7,62,068 units in the previous April-February to nearly a million units (9,21,089 units) now.

The real growth is in the 200-500cc segment where Royal Enfield continues to reign supreme. The higher end moto-market — where global brands like Harley Davidson, Triumph, Kawasaki and others play — is either flat or has turned negative.

Source

Why so? Am disappointed with this, especially since sales of expensive / luxury cars is at an all-time high. Is it because:

• The bikes from a segment below have gotten really good? Similar to how we saw C2 sedans murder D1 sedans?

• The small segment of the market that wanted big bikes already bought them?

• The 'big bike' craze has cooled down?

• No new & interesting launches?

• Any price hikes (although IIRC prices actually came down recently)?

• The pre-owned market is flooded with almost-new big bikes?

[vishy76]

Originally Posted by GTO

Source

Why so? Am disappointed with this, especially since sales of expensive / luxury cars is at an all-time high. Is it because:

• The bikes from a segment below have gotten really good? Similar to how we saw C2 sedans murder D1 sedans?

• The small segment of the market that wanted big bikes already bought them?

• The 'big bike' craze has cooled down?

• No new & interesting launches?

• Any price hikes (although IIRC prices actually came down recently)?

• The pre-owned market is flooded with almost-new big bikes?

No new launches have taken place in the 500cc segment this year. RE, who is a major player as listed, was busy concentrating on its 650 twins. The thunderbird X series is not an all new launch either. The Continental GT died a gradual death as well.

On the other hand, lower segment bikes have become better with times as well. You do have bikes like the Yamaha R3, which are darn competent and also priced lower. KTM has already been eating into 500cc+ segment sales at some point or the other, so I don't think I need to mention that.

Bikes like the Harley Davidson Street 750 have gotten more expensive with time. Additionally, these are bare bones bikes at the bottom end of the market. Its snob value that drives them. Shelling out close to 6 or 7 big ones only for snob value won't make sense for many either. Not to forget, the maintenance and upkeep will be much more as well.

Kawasaki seems to be doing well though. Aggressively priced products and Japanese reliability surely goes their way. The Ninja 650, the Versys 650 are both good examples here. Not to forget the Z650 as well.

On the other hand, GST doesn't seem to have affected superbikes much. It's only about 3% give or take. Didn't see a ripple effect amongst any of the bike manufacturers like we did with the car makers.

[payeng]

Originally Posted by GTO

Why so? Am disappointed with this, especially since sales of expensive / luxury cars is at an all-time high.

A SIAM number study over the last couple of years makes the reason very clear.

REASON: De-growth of the two significant 500 Plus cc models that contributed to the initial growth hype.


1. Royal Enfield - Continental GT (Currently Discontinued. 0 Numbers for the last few months)


2. Harley Davidson 750 (Street and Street Rod) - Currently settling to 150 per month from the initial 250-300 per month.


These two models have affected the sales numbers since both of them contributed majorly to the sales numbers in the 500 cc plus segment when they were launched couple of years back.

Rest of the brands show positive growth and the above two models being the reason for the de-growth of the 500 cc plus segment.

[androdev]

Money is the only requirement to buy luxury cars. To buy a powerful bike, you need money, youth, skill, desire to flirt with danger and permission from parents.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by androdev

Money is the only requirement to buy luxury cars. To buy a powerful bike, you need money, youth, skill, desire to flirt with danger and permission from parents.

Spouse maybe, but parents? For the midlife crisis affected?

Regards
Sutripta

[androdev]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Spouse maybe, but parents? For the midlife crisis affected?

Regards
Sutripta

You can negotiate and bribe your spouse, not parents

[smartcat]

We can always pin the blame on demonetization and GST

Since the absolute numbers are small (around 5000 units per year), there is bound to be blips like this. It is not indicative of a major trend. That is - when the market size is small, one hot model launch could change the numbers drastically for that year. Seeing something like this is not unusual -

FY16: 5000 units
FY17: 6000 units
FY18: 4000 units
FY19: 4800 units
FY20: 8900 units

and so on.

[The Brutailer]

Originally Posted by androdev

Money is the only requirement to buy luxury cars. To buy a powerful bike, you need money, youth, skill, desire to flirt with danger and permission from parents.

Not to mention the kind of power you get in 15-20 lakhs motorcycles is comparable to cars worth 3 crores+ (supercars). Most people (in India) don’t need that kind of power. I’ve ridden many superbikes, yet my all time favourite is the Duke 390 as I can control every bit of it’s power unlike the 200 BHP superbikes on which acing it’s full power range is not humanly possible.

[giri1.8]

Originally Posted by The Brutailer

I’ve ridden many superbikes, yet my all time favourite is the Duke 390 as I can control every bit of it’s power unlike the 200 BHP superbikes on which acing it’s full power range is not humanly possible.

This might be a reason too, most litre class bike can hit 150 on first gear, no fun in not revving 99% of the time!

[Tanveer02]

Apart from the above shared factors by BHPians which I totally agree with, I will share somewhat of a different opinion. Based on what I have seen and analysed with my own eyes, the masses (mostly the working class between 25-40 age group) who were primarily motorcycle enthusiasts at one point of time have now moved on to 4 wheelers. Reason? Increasing traffic mishaps of two wheelers, the safety of being in a "cabin" of a car etc. Apart from that, the interesting and fun to drive cars that are launched every now and then are also playing their own role in eating the big bike sells. The youth that wanted a Harley a few years back has now bought a Baleno RS or a Figo Sports because the car allows him to do the same journey more comfortably, can have the same fun (in a driver's way) and he can carry 3 more friends of his in the back seat.

[B O V]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Spouse maybe, but parents? For the midlife crisis affected?

Regards
Sutripta

Parents for the younger employed one's amongst us. Their persuasion is how I ended up with a Kwid ( RXTO). Over a similarly priced motorcycle.

On a note true to the thread

Probably due to a lack on unexciting bikes in the market today. The only thing I had considered was a Triumph, but that ST is kinda overpriced for what it offers. The Harleys,No. The Kawa No. If only the Z900 RS was priced sensibly. Sigh.

[aravind.anand]

To make someone plonk that sort of money on a motorcycle (which is against a conservative family's code of conduct) the motorcycle needs to look and feel 'special' but unfortunately no matter how good and capable the big bikes are, they somehow seem to miss out on the soulful feel.

HD Street 750 was never really a true Harley, and is not dated too.
HD Street Rod 750 is really good looking, but the heat it produces rivals few ovens and barbecue grills!
Hyosung's 650cc offering have long been forgotten
Honda's CB650F, though a really well-rounded package, is a little overpriced
Triumph's Bonnie range is a brilliant bike which again is out of reach for many who really desire it - a 600cc Bonnie at around 5L will really see lot of takers IMHO.
Kawasaki has a really good lineup of 650s, but somehow that special feel is missing.

Royal Enfield's Continental GT 535 has been laid to rest, and the upcoming new twin cylinder motorcycles don't look special either!

And with the extremely competent (and growing) 300+cc bikes are making these bigger engined bikes seem unnecessary. Duke's 390 twins offer all the performance one might possibly exploit on our roads, Yamaha's R3 is a decent Ninja 650 / CB650F alternative, Benelli's TNT300 even mimics an inline-4's much sought after exhaust note! So one really has to come up with lots of excuses to convince the mind to invest in one of these 500+cc machines.

[basuroy]

I have a duke 390 that I enjoyed thoroughly during my stay in Siliguri before relocating back to Kolkata recently . It so happened that I made a mini fortune from trading/gambling cryptocurrencies and had enough to spare for an upgrade to a Ducati Monster or a Triumph street triple - in fact a motorcycle upgrade was the prime motivation behind trading cryptos and my wallpaper is still a Monster 797 .

Test rode the striple as well as the iron 883 of a friend before I realised that I can barely maintain 30kmph average riding the duke within Kolkata so except for pure snob value , these motorcycles are an upgrade only on paper while being much heavier and difficult to control in traffic ( the Harley especially was a torture - the owner makes it a point to wake up at 6am just to ride his motorcycle !!! ) . Not all of us have the time or energy to crawl through 20km of city traffic for 100 or 200km of highway ride just to enjoy these machines , point being there are very few places where these bikes can be enjoyed thoroughly - Siliguri is a great example based on my experience . Places like Kolkata or Delhi ? one needs to be a hardcore enthusiast to ride one during summer .

With car's , you don't have the same dilemma . Even if your BMW 5-Series is crawling at the same speed as a Dzire , you are at least a lot more comfortable.

[pixantz]

Originally Posted by basuroy

so except for pure snob value , these motorcycles are an upgrade only on paper while being much heavier and difficult to control in traffic ( the Harley especially was a torture - the owner makes it a point to wake up at 6am just to ride his motorcycle !!! ) . Not all of us have the time or energy to crawl through 20km of city traffic for 100 or 200km of highway ride just to enjoy these machines

You are right. Actually people have not really learnt how to choose a bike in India going by what kind of riding they do, what the bike is meant to do, and practicality be damned. Here it's just the snob value and people are so into that, that they go to great silly extents to amuse themselves which is not how it's really meant to be.


It's a more like, what the heck, I have the money for it and I want that one, so I'll get it because, boy oh boy, it looks fabulous, so what if it fries my thighs to work everyday. I have a superbike man!

That said, I think you're used to the lighter Duke and so are feeling the HD to be heavier, which it is a bit, actually. Why don't you try a Sports Tourer like the Honda CBR650f or the naked CB650 or Ninja 650, or then the new Ninja 400? Best of both worlds. They'll be smooth, pack a punch, won't fry your legs in traffic, can do track days quite well(if you do that), have a blast on highways, give good FE and be a pretty decent daily driver too. The world over bigger bike riders are switching over to these smart boys.

[dinu2506]

Originally Posted by GTO

Source

Why so? Am disappointed with this, especially since sales of expensive / luxury cars is at an all-time high. Is it because:

• The bikes from a segment below have gotten really good? Similar to how we saw C2 sedans murder D1 sedans?

• The small segment of the market that wanted big bikes already bought them?

• The 'big bike' craze has cooled down?

• No new & interesting launches?

• Any price hikes (although IIRC prices actually came down recently)?

• The pre-owned market is flooded with almost-new big bikes?

I guess the increasing popularity and affordability of the Duke 390's can be put as one of the additional reasons. I've never ridden one yet, but from what I understand, the 390s can give similar performance of bikes at a much lower cc and price point. I think many youngsters who might have possibly stretched for 650s might think twice with the 390s being available.

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Spouse maybe, but parents? For the midlife crisis affected?

Regards
Sutripta

Trust me, I bought my Bonnie in 2015 when I was 47. Apart from the spouse, I needed the perceived go-ahead from my father who was 80 that time. Though he never said a yes or no, you get the feel, you know what I mean. Maybe related to an accident I had way back in the 2003.

Originally Posted by The Brutailer

Not to mention the kind of power you get in 15-20 lakhs motorcycles is comparable to cars worth 3 crores+ (supercars). Most people (in India) don’t need that kind of power. I’ve ridden many superbikes, yet my all time favourite is the Duke 390 as I can control every bit of it’s power unlike the 200 BHP superbikes on which acing it’s full power range is not humanly possible.

With you on this, though never ridden one