Surprisingly, India is the only market where competition for every manufacturer is very high. Tough times lie ahead for them, while consumers will continue to have a sweet tooth of choices.
Let us be very clear here. Now this is not us but this is what Yamaha quoted some time back. Yamaha has clearly said that India is the only country where Japanese face stiff competition when it comes to the volume segment. Japanese manufacturers in the European market have good market share in the upper segment of the motorcycle market but when it comes to India, they are facing super hard competition from Indian manufacturers in volumes and also in the performance segment. For example, Hero leads the charts in the 100/125cc market with its motorcycles, Bajaj rules the roost in the 150/200cc segment and now the higher segment with the help of KTM and Kawasaki. TVS is gaining market share in the scooter segment and the new boy in town, Mahindra is showing signs of the same.
Honda is primarily known for scooters in India and not for motorcycles. Yamaha is selling two scooters, FZ/Fazer and R15 in large numbers but sales are far away from domestic manufacturers. Suzuki is also known for scooters and the Gixxer will help them gain a lot of market share as it is an extremely well received product. Meanwhile, the Japanese are doing good in both scooters and motorcycles as their products have become a cult, Honda is clearly behind in motorcycles but the king in scooters. One of the many reasons why the 160cc motorcycle and CBR twins are delayed is because Honda does not want to take any chances this time and wants to price and position their products well.
While rest of the Asian countries don’t have strong domestic manufacturers and that is where Japanese brands are nearly on the verge of being worshiped. It is only India, Japan and Europe which are fighting for total supremacy throughout the world and it is Indian manufacturers combined with European manufacturers who are giving the Japanese a tough time. Despite everybody knows what the Japanese offer, the shift can be seen towards Indian products and Indian made European products, which is happening with Bajaj-KTM and soon will happen with TVS-BMW. Hero-EBR also have huge plans and they will compete with these domestic rivals who have teamed up with Europeans while also firing rounds at Japanese manufacturers at the same time.
Honda has one clear plan of getting 50% market share in the Indian market which seems a bold claim in today’s scenario because there is no monopoly here in India (like in other markets) as all brands are well regarded and well established in every aspect. Even Suzuki has its own strengths which Honda, despite being on top of the Japanese brigade in terms of numbers, lacks in certain areas. Yamaha is trying real hard and Suzuki has waken up from its sleep. Kawasaki is with Bajaj and plays only in the performance segment.
It will be interesting to see how the market behaves and what kind of impact manufacturers leave behind on customers. As of now every manufacturer has their own cult products in the market with a decent amount of market share which remains quite steady. Obviously every manufacturer needs to reach the sky but it’s only a matter of a few years which will decide the faith of 2-wheeler companies and will show who remains where and who goes up, who stays steady and who slides down.
