The Indian 2 wheeler industry is witnessing a growing demand in scooters over the months with the maximum sales volumes catering to the women and first time buyers. In India, already Honda, Hero Motocorp, Suzuki and TVS have their respective offerings in the scooter segment and more and more players are planning to enter this potential market. Come January 2012, and manufacturers like Honda, Hero and Suzuki have already lined up their products to be showcased at the 2012 Auto Expo to be held in Delhi. Apart from them, India Yamaha is also making its foray into this segment by showcasing their offering at the Auto Expo.
“We cannot cope with the demand with our single scooter offering, Access 125. So we plan to come out with a second model, which will be launched during the upcoming Auto Expo,” Atul Gupta, VP (marketing and sales), Suzuki Motorcycles India, said.
In the recent times, the demand for scooters has seen a very sharp rise will a growth of 39% year-on-year in the month of November as compared to the motorcycle segment which grew by about 23%. Companies like Suzuki Motorcycles are already facing backlogs of upto 30,000 scooters even after a 30% expansion in monthly production to 27,000 units. Seeing the growing demand, and the highly potential market, Yamaha India has decided to venture into this segment. India Yamaha Motor CEO & MD Hiroyuki Suzuki said that scooters are still an untapped market in India and the company forecasts that this segment will grow to 35% by the year 2016. Currently the Indian scooter market is dominated by the Honda Activa and the waiting period for this hugely popular scooter extends upto 4 months. Other models like the Suzuki Access and the Hero Pleasure is also facing waiting periods due to the demand-supply gap.
