By Shankar Aiyar

In the two-wheeler industry, which collectively churns out 20 lakh vehicles a year -- more than four times what the car industry does -- some players have managed to cut through consumer resistance with innovation, pricing and aggressive marketing. Basically, what the car business should have done at least a year ago.

In the scooter segment, the industry is wheeling out something new every season. "Competition is hotting up and customers are becoming more and more demanding about quality and features," says Rajiv Bajaj, vice-president, products and marketing, Bajaj Auto. "If we have to maintain our No. 1 position, we have to upgrade our models." Plus, push hard.

Bajaj, for instance, offered rock-bottom finance at an interest of 8 per cent per annum to woo the cautious, middle-class buyer. While that pushed the company's two-wheeler sales to over four lakh, it hasn't stopped buyers from going to LML (over two lakh sales ), Kinetic (81,000-plus) or TVS (45,000-plus) either. But there's good news ahead. Says Jagdeep Goswami, an analyst with UTI Securities: "The market is expected to shift towards the four-stroke scooter segment and grow at an average annual rate of about 10 per cent."

With mobikes too, technology upgrades are moving sales. It has also clocked the fastest growth in the past two years (11 per cent during April-November 1996 and 12 per cent during the corresponding period the year after), compared to the negative growth for scooters and mopeds.

It's a tough market: some want speed, some fuel efficiency while most want both. So Bajaj, which already has the high fuel-efficiency 4-S, is speaking about its radical aluminium combustion engine (race) for the Champion bike. Yamaha, which has invested Rs 10 crore in research and development, has come up with three new models -- the Yamaha RXZ, Escorts Ace and Toro Rosa -- and plans to unveil two more -- RX 135 and RX Tiger -- at the Auto Expo '98. Old warhorse Enfield is revving up too, wheeling out the new Machismo A 350 that promises both power and fuel efficiency.

Across the board, manufacturers are planning for expansion and modernisation. For instance, Escorts Yamaha is pushing for a Rs 2,000 crore turnover by the end of the century and plans to spend over Rs 525 crore for modernisation and higher capacities. While TVS Suzuki, trying to catch up with an aggressive Hero Honda, is planning to market new mopeds and four-stroke mobike models this year, LML and Piaggio are also set to increase their range of two-wheelers to include mopeds and motorcycles. There's action here, and it all looks positive.

Write to us | Subscriptions

© Living Media India Ltd