New breed of 2-wheelers on Indian roads

PUNE: Indian roads are seeing an influx of a new kind of two-wheeler addressed at the youth: the one that feel like a motorcycle but rides like a scooter.

With Honda and Piaggio launching their respective offerings in the segment, the competition seems to be hotting up in the space. Other players, sources said, are closely watching this segment to see the sales momentum. A senior executive at one of the two-wheeler company said, "We are watching this space. Discussions are already on if such an offering from our stable will make sense."

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) unveiled its crossover concept bike Navi at the Auto Expo in Delhi in February. In the first three months since the company started selling Navi, it has managed to sell 15,000 units. In fact, buoyed by the response which has "pleasantly surprised" the company's executives, HMSI has decided to double its production capacity for Navi in Rajasthan to about 1 lakh units.

Last week, Italian bike maker Piaggio also brought out its first crossover SR 150 in the country, under its brand – Aprilia. Stefano Pelle, managing director and CEO, Piaggio Vehicles Private Ltd (PVPL), said, "Our research in India showed the scooter market growing by leaps and bounds, but desirability for motorcycle was also high. This led us to innovate and enter the crossover segment."

For Honda, the foray into the segment was about catching the youth who were not taking as much to the 100-110cc bikes.

"Our analysis showed that the percentage of youngsters buying into the 110cc segment was very small…We decided that there needs to be some fun element and uniqueness into the segment," said Yadvinder Singh Guleria, senior vice-president - sales & marketing, HMSI.

"We expect a lot of potential going by the initial response that we have received for the Aprilia SR 150. We aim to cater to the desires of the discerning youth of India. This innovative cross over is designed to appeal to those looking for the sensation of sports bikes and the convenience of automatic scooters in their daily city commute," Pelle said.

"The tier-2 market is an important segment for the success of all our brands. We are working on growing our dealer network to cater to this segment. The SR 150 is specifically designed to cater to the Indian audience and we believe that the rural market is ready for such a cross over bike," he added.