[S15]

Originally Posted by Emvi

While a million rupee or a little more will fetch you a modern car with 1000+ cc engine with decent power output and a lot of features, a 1000+cc bike will cost much more. Agreed, the comparison is not a valid one, but, just the amount of hardware a car has compared to a bike, is what gets me thinking! The cheapest twin cylinder bike is our market probably is the RE Interceptor 650 priced at around 3.5 lakh rupees. Quite a few other bikes with lesser engine displacement actually cost atleast 50 grand more. We have 2-3 cars with atleast a 800cc powertrain available in this price range. I seriously don't know what "special" technology is used to manufacture these BIG bikes, that they are priced so high. If it is because of the sales volume (which is relatively low), the bikes are priced high, there are quite a few cars in our market which have even lesser sales numbers. Probably a decade ago, big capacity bikes were mostly imported and our tax structure obviously rendered these machines expensive. The BIG bikes sold in India via CBU route are obviously expensive. But I think there are quite a few of them which are manufactured/assembled in India. One such notable example is BMW G310 series bikes.

In my humble opinion, its not bikes that are expensive in India, its cars that are cheap in India.
Example? Sure.

Royal Enfield continental 650 costs $ 6249 in the USA. (Thats Rs. 4,59,638 converted)
The cheapest car in the USA? Chevrolet Spark. Price? About 11-ish thousand (including destination charges etc)

In India, due to various reasons (primarily low standards and economy of scale), we can get a Kwid the same price as a RE 650.

A BMW G310R costs 2.50 ex-showroom, which is the same as a RE650.

There are two things that I believe are the reasons:

1: There are only so much aspects you can compromise on, without compromising on the fundamentals. The motorcycles we get here are quite close to global products. The cars? Not so much. eg Seltos. Different chassis, different platform, different engine, no AWD. (Also see this post by Turbo https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ml#post4908399 (Toyota halts India expansion, blames ‘We Don’t Want You’ taxes) )

2: Ever noticed how the same mobile is more expensive offline than online? Because the shopkeeper also has to make a living. Similarly BMW dealers dont sell enough bikes, and thus have to have a higher profit margin.

[no_fear]

A lot of valid points made by forum members: my 2 cents to the discussion.

1) most car manufacturers have tie-ups where they share technology with each other. Whether it is the chassis, drive train, transmission or electronics, companies share the technology to keep costs down. The Japanese Big 3 (Honda, Toyota, Nissan) all share the same suppliers for parts. Among the European car manufacturers - best example is VW. They own Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Ducati, Porsche, Skoda. A lot of them are premium brands, but Skoda uses the same platform as VW and shares similar electronics as Audi.

Hence a car maker can offer cheaper segments to India while market the higher end models to Western countries and maintain their profitability portfolio.

2) Big car makers have the backing of government due to the contribution they make to the economy and to jobs. GM and Ford in the US are too big to fail, and the US government stepped in 2008 to ensure they don't go bankrupt. The same goes for European makers and for the Japanese. To keep car makers afloat and competitive, they receive a lot of government subsidies. This also helps the car maker to lower the cost of the end product and pass the savings to consumers - the effect of trickle down economics. Best example is the current EV movement and the rise of Tesla.

Motorbike companies focus on a niche segment of the market and do not get these government grants or subsidies. They are left to fend for themselves. Harley is a prime example of how it is failing.

Now lets examine motorbike makers.

Among the Japanese manufacturers, only Honda and Suzuki make both cars and bikes. Yamaha does collaborate with Toyota to make automobile engines, but they are not active as a car maker. They make more pianos and electronic synthesizers than big bikes probably. Kawasaki is the odd man out, with their main business in ship building, bullet trains, and heavy industries. Motorbikes are a very small segment of their portfolio.

The liter class bikes designed by the 4 makers are influenced by their participation in the WSB / MotoGP races and by consumer demand from the Western world. They do not participate in any technology transfers, do not get subsidies and are more or less insulated from the parent entities. While they do make bikes in bulk, the parent entity treats them more as a hobby or business diversification than an actual profit generating entity. To survive and make $$$$, they need to price their bikes accordingly and thus the prices are often higher than sedans.

The same rationale is applied to BMW, Ducati, Triumph and MV Agusta. Ducati makes 50000 bikes annually, MV makes 5000. Both are boutique companies and do not have the economies of scale to make cheap bikes to compete with Bajaj or Hero. And they don't want to.

India is a tough market for super bikes. High taxes, gasoline prices and import duties add more to the cost of super bikes. The superbike companies here are not looking for mass market, but exclusivity.

Hence comparing 10 lacs for a car against a bike wont really work out well.

[shancz]

Originally Posted by Emvi

Lastly, I am just curious to know, what would you compare a 600-800cc cruiser bike to?

Rode a HD48 yesterday and found the answer to this question, hopefully.

Iron 883 : Camaro V6
Vulcan 650 : Toyota Avalon is the closest I could get since the Japanese stopped making muscle cars since a few decades.

[iamahunter]

I recently purchased the Versys 650. And this is the most common question and reaction that I am getting from almost all my relatives.

"Itne me to acha khasi car aa jati"

My explanation is - The versys is also a car, cost and mileage are the same! Its just a bit faster and advanced than the car.

However, one thing that cannot be missed - the compact the item becomes, the costlier it becomes.
For example - A desktop is way cheaper than a laptop of similar spec.
A laptop is way more cheaper than a similar spec phone/tablet.

Reason - The technology that goes in them.

[VijayAnand1]

Great discussion, and great thoughts from great minds. Bikes evoke inner emotions in a different way than a cage would. I would echo how surajonwheels clearly justified an apples to oranges comparison. Motorcycles by their inherent nature exude danger, exhilaration and status.

A same bike that costs 20 lakh here in India costs close to 10 or 12 lakhs at max elsewhere. A beginner bike like the N650 et cetera costs what a Made in India Duke 390 costs here in India and vice versa.

Of course a pricier motorcycle doesn't mean it's a worthier motorcycle, barring the engineering and componentry, metallurgy et cetera or the finer details of it. Automobiles in their entirety are engineering marvels like no other, and a motorcycle isn't anything different.

I read this wonderful quote from a TV show,

Matt, there's a clear difference between what is fast and what looks fast

You are paying for the exhilaration, you're paying for the emotions that it evokes like no other, you're paying for the uniqueness of it, you're paying for the image it creates on you. In all, you're paying for how it transforms you. You show how you can pay extra to the tax men and the manufacturer, because you prove it, you have it.

I personally would refrain comparing a superbike to any Maruti products or a run of the mill psuedo-crossovers out here, it's a complete no-brainer. A superbike can be only matched with a supercar, yet still, it punches way above its weight, and therein lies the essence of it.

Cheers!
VJ

[Emvi]

An interesting article related to the thread.

https://powersportsguide.com/why-mot...-so-expensive/

[KayEss]

My point of view is very simple.

One can buy an ordinary or average car for 10-15 Lac. Same kind of money would buy one a special (or really special) motorcycle.

So maybe big bikes are.. cheaper ?