Honda Aviator – the new Honda Activa!

Honda put out quite a presentation at the launch of its new 100cc scooter, the Aviator, saying its market research indicated a decently large market for male centric scooters. Scooters that working men, men who own the Honda Civic, dressed in suits, would want to buy. And therefore, the scooter needed to draw design cues from the car and look modern and upmarket. From the company’s point of view it’s fine, talking about this new male customer.
But the thing is, if you talk about male centric scooters, one has to pack in aggressive styling, extra go, and a male ego satisfying attitude. The Kinetic Blaze is a good example of such a scooter. The Aviator however, is not.
I think it would have been best if Honda would have come out with the truth and said, “Now look, the Activa has been around for donkey’s years, and even though it’s still selling quite splendidly, we ought to look at the future. And so for those who swear by the Activa’s mechanicals but want a more modern, but not too overstated a scooter, here’s the Aviator. Cheers.”
I would have appreciated that.
I mean come on, which Civic owner is going to leave his car parked in the garage while he faces and fights pollution that threatens to spoil his beauty parlour caressed and toned skin? It’s absurd, I know!
Another line of thought, influenced by the Honda guys of course, is that there’s potential to create a niche, a niche that Suzuki has tried to cater to with the 125cc Access – understated styling, and a higher capacity scooter with more zip and load carrying capability. In short, an alternative for the old Chetak and present Eterno customer.
Sounds good. But with the Aviator, it doesn’t make too much sense, particularly with the Activa drivetrain still driving the Aviator.

Will post a review soon…

The Off-beat approach - Suzuki way

Little surprise, that Suzuki, after making a dismal foray into Indian biking with average products like the Zeus and Heat, in a category which saw a flurry of launches from every manufacturer in the country at the same time, showboating better styling, ergonomics, performance and features, has now decided to look at scooters. And it’s not your regular 100cc gearless scooter either, but the Access with her 125cc engine, is trying to carve a niche in a segment which hitherto is untouched.
But will the Access get the numbers Suzuki so desperately needs? Not quite. But there’s more to the two-wheeler bike making circus then just numbers. There’s the question of getting noticed, there are dealers who need to be pacified, and there needs to be a good product mix to retain walk-ins.
Suzuki feels the Access will help the company on all these counts. And what ever numbers she does manage to sell; it will only help the company’s cause further.
Looking at the 125cc gearless scooter segment, in the meantime, there’s no real competition. Yes, Kinetic has also just introduced the SYM Flyte, but its demeanour is more of an entry level, light, girly scooterette than a full fledged scooter. The Access on the contrary, with her large dimensions, not to mention a larger heart, fits the latter quite well.
Will soon have a ride report on the scooter, and how she compares with the rest of the creed…

Off-beat vs herd mentality

We hear, read and witness a new launch every other day now. While some introduce completely new, exciting offerings (if not breathtaking); some choose to launch rehatched versions of their sometimes best selling, and sometimes slow moving models. But what goes on behind launching each of these offerings; what’s the thought process; what’s the game plan? Though, it’s impossible to get it entirely spot on, unless of course I were a company insider, here’s an attempt to make sense of some product strategies.
There are largely two ways of going about deciding a new product– a) Let’s call this one herd mentality - dive into a segment which has been witnessing great growth in the recent past – double digit, triple digit growth rates and the like – backed up of course with million page market research report indicating (actually shouting) that the concerned product category has immense potential, and will continue to grow for… well, ever.
And b) The ‘off-beat’ approach - enter virgin territory; create a new niche; spawn a new segment; etc etc…
But both approaches have their set of problems.
‘a’ for instance is a crowded place (remember ‘herd’); the competition here is intense; under cutting the only mantra; better value-for–money proposition, a prerequisite. So, if you are Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto or even TVS, it’s okay to take this approach. After all, the three have had reasonably good numbers by their sides, as well as success, at some level or the other. As a result are better equipped both mentally and financially to take a hammering if their products were to fail.
We have seen the three at it as well, and pretty often. Bajaj tried to knock off Hero Honda in the 100c segment, Hero Honda on the other hand tried the same on the former in the 150cc plus segment. As for TVS, it tried to outdo both in both these categories. The outcome though is been more or less the same on both counts – HH continues uninterrupted in the 100s while Bajaj and TVS have had to make do with relatively smaller, but sumptuous helpings. While in the 150cc plus, Bajaj is still king, with TVS and HH managing just about okay sales.

However, if you were a new entrant to the market, or have been battling miniscule sales, much like Suzuki and Yamaha respectively, and obviously Kinetic, it’s best to take the ‘off-beat’ approach.
Here’s how it helps. Creating a new segment, or a sub segment, first, takes the competition away. It also helps the maker get noticed, as it gives the company something new and different to harp about. All the manufacturer has to do then, is to convince buyers, the new product category actually makes sense for him. We have seen a few examples of this ‘Off beat’ approach, and I’ll list them for you in the subsequent posts.