As time progresses, so does peoples' needs, demands and desires.
Quiet simply, ye dil maange more.
Kyonki there is no replacement for displacement, more for less is the mantra for motorcycle manufacturers to say-
sar uthake jiyo.
There was an emergence of a new segment-motorcycles that blended a combination of performance, mileage, looks and decent price-that of the 125-135 cc segment, or urban commuter motorcycle.
If we tick back the clock, as mentioned by diwa,
bajaj actually pioneered the concept of an affordable motorcycle for the masses-on that cost below 25,000 rupees and gave astounding mileage. They conceptualized, designed and launched a very diminutive 100cc motorcycle called the
byk 100, tagged as first sport. In fact, scooter buyers or first time two wheeler owners gave it an instant thumbs up and it wen off to a flying start with 10,000 units sold in just 3 weeks and the company worked an extra day to produce more bikes to keep up with the demand.
However, while the bike did continue to do decent business, it was pulsar that was proving to be more profitable for bajaj. And to everyone's surprise, the management at Bajaj decided not to concentrate on 100 cc bikes anymore but on the newly emerging 125-135 cc segment, because the business case was proving more favorable to the stakeholders.
The first casualties for this business decision were byk, which ended production, and then the caliber 115, which to was phased out eventually along with regular caliber. The wind 125 did not do so well, but it was primarily exported to Latin American markets.
So, finally it was time for
bajaj to discover its roots again and after much speculation in the market about an all new bike from bajaj, the company finally unveiled its much awaited
discover 125 as a more powerful alternative to the splendor/passion twins, at just a marginal price premium. Jackie Chan was shown in an ad commercial and the bike became an overnight success, actually it succeeded so much that it threw hero honda's overambitious plans into a blast furnace. It's bread and butter models were under threat.
So, how did the empire react? Of course, pretty ambitiously and launched its first new commuter bike in 8 years-the "regal crested"
ambition and one upped the discover 125 by offering a 135 cc engine. It was tom-tomed that hero honda's target group is both discover and pulsar buyers and its unique tri-pod instrument cluster above the round headlight was marketed as a regal crest, something that consumers found it difficult to digest and just termed hero honda's efforts as deliberate to stage a comeback to its waning market share. it even re-stickered the splendor and passion and added a plus tag to both bikes.
Alloy wheels were fast becoming a norm and almost all commuter bikes were now sporting it as a standard fitment in select variants.
Hero Honda's ambitious plans were just becoming ambiguous as its ambition was beaten black and blue by people who discover-ed a new option from Bajaj and there's another victor-ous threat to come from down south.
TVS had already parted ways with suzuki and was working on its new motorcycle in 125 cc segment-the
victor. Like many of you mentioned that it too was fully indigenously designed and developed by TVS, it was the company's first shot at the commuter bike segment and the company's first bike to be launched under a new corporate identity and its own brand name. It started off well and sold as the company expected it to, with maximum demand coming from southern and south-eastern part of the country.
Yamaha, operating like a zinda laash too jumped into the 125cc segment and launched its bike-the
fazer 125, again with a controversial twin headlamp spiderman like fairing, clearly a love it or hate it design. With the enticer not being able to entice buyers in the long run, it was phased out and the libero was the sole offering left from the company. But, yamaha's daring design strategies was not daring enough for public to regain back some of its lost glory and the fazer too sold below expectations, continuing in an never ending chapter of Yamaha's Indian failures and mounting losses in its balance sheets.
In a confused policy of twists and turns,
bajaj conveyed that its not leaving 100 cc segment for good and would like to have presence there, since hero honda's cash cows were still milking its splendid and passionate customers. Pissed off, bajaj phased out its wind and CT 100 models and replaced it with a bike that was designed to show jhalaks to girls from men who rode them. It was called the
platina and it had a tagline-
jhalak dikhla ja.
Buoyed by the success of discover 125, the company in the coming years also launched the
discover 135 and
discover 112 cc, increasing its presence in every segment possible and confusion customers further.
LML, long plagued by labour troubles and mounting losses in its operations, faced many strikes in its kanpur plant and phased out its bikes-energy, adreno and freedom and just produced its 2 scooters-the NV and elect in limited numbers. Yes, the company will come back, but more on that later.
As we scoot along the ridges in a series of twists and turns, there are hardly any scooters left in the market, with majority of the companies concentrating on the motorcycle segment in particular. Yet, Honda trios of activa, dio and eterno contain to sell briskly, with the active and eterno garnering more than 75 percent of the company’s volumes, with the dio bringing up the rest. The scooters get their first sticker upgrades and their technical innovations are highlighted on the product itself.
The scoterrette segment heats up again with
kinetic once again re-launching itself with two products-the
zing, targeted at scooty base model and
style, targeted at scooty pep plus. Later, the zing is also launched as the
zing rocking series with built in features like FM radio, mobile chargers etc, college students being the target market.
The kinetic DX scooters later would also be upgraded to four stroke but it’s a classic case of too little, too late. But, its only time for it to have some pizzazz..
The
bajaj saffire is also upgraded and re-launched at cut price, while all its scooter production grinds to a halt with the company shifting its focus to motorcycles.
Hero Honda in a very smart marketing move, decides to jump into the ungeared scooter market and launches an activa for those who just want pleasure, read that women and just to answer the big question-why should boys have all the fun, comes an answer in the form of Hero Honda
pleasure, a light and zippy 100cc scooter. Basically, it sits on the same mechanicals as the activa and gets the same features; only the body panels and branding are different.
In a daring move, it announces the opening of exclusive
just 4 her showrooms which would exclusively cater to women riders and everything will be designed and catered keeping women buyers in mind. It does call for an extra investment though which puts pressure on dealers to open extra showrooms. The plan backfires with the results being not good as it was expected it to be. Many just 4 her showrooms never see the light of the day, and many shut down owing to lack of customer interest, only a select few operate. The scooter itself sells below expectations, with the clone backfiring its overambitious plans.
However, the year 2004 heralded a grand comeback for the wing logoed
Honda as it prepares to light diwali firecrackers by launching its first motorcycle for the Indian market-called the
unicorn. While not exactly ground breaking, it does have unique features like a rear monoshock, tuff-up puncture resistant tube, claimed 60 kmpl mileage and the best of all, its 150 cc engine, easily the most refined and the smoothest engine ever seen on a production Indian market motorcycle in the mass segment. It is powerful yet efficient enough and most importantly, environmentally friendly too.
So it does not come as a surprise that when it is launched at a very competitive price of below Rs. 50,000 in Pune, it becomes an instant hit and initial lots are all booked out for 3-4 months. In fact, people saw this as the first threat to pulsar which was selling briskly. The unicorn, as mentioned before, had it all what a sensible Indian working class commuter wanted, coupled with the reliability factor, all helped it to garner sales success.
So, did bajaj sat just quietly? Obviously not.
It dramatically upgraded its pulsar 150 and 180 twins for the second time, increased engine power and torque, improved gearshift and handling and added alloys as standard to make the unicorn seriously underequipped in comparison. Sales rebounded and it was like a two way cola war between bajaj and Honda, pulsar VS unicorn.
TVS too responded by fully remodelling its fiero F2 and renaming it as the
fiero FX with again a round headlamp design to give some fight before its next model could hit the market.
And where did the empire go? The CBZ craze was all but over, the ambition flopped, the karizma sales were dwindling, and the CD dawn/CD deluxe were just products treated like stepmothers, its sole cash cows being customers who are just splendid or passionate about biking in 100s.
Now, as the paradigm shifts to an entirely new level, many manufacturers will eye new technologies and new innovations to lure back customers.
There will be a southern storm when the company varies its timing intelligently by launching a revolutionary new engine in a new motorcycle.
And how does the empire react? Did the king lose its crown?
Find out next, as this story gets some more fuel injected into it...
4th May 2010, 15:43
(1)
Thanks
