Corporate: Gearless, But Running

CORPORATE: MARKETING
Gearless, But Running

Scooter-manufacturers are now queuing up to grab a slice of the booming gearless market.

By Shamni Pande.

When the Pune-based Kinetic Group launched its first gearless scooter in 1986, it became an icon for working women in that city. Since then, Sulajja Motwani, who was then around 16 years old, has seen the transition of a niche product into a mass-market marvel. ''What we are witnessing now is the emergence of new trends in the two-wheeler industry,'' says an exuberant Motwani, now 29 and Joint Managing Director of Kinetic Engineering. Clearly there has been a shift over the past few years, and the verdict is in favour of scooterettes (below 100-cc) and gearless scooters.

The statistics tell the same story. In 1999-2000, while the sales of traditional geared scooters fell 12 per cent, those of gearless scooters and scooterettes jumped 22 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively. Things are stirring up in the normally placid scooter segment. Agrees Koujiro Iguchi, 45, Director (Sales & Marketing), Honda Motorcycle & Scooters India: ''True, the scooter segment does seem dull in comparison to motorcycles. But things will change soon with a spate of new launches by various players.''

The Rs 1,000-crore Kinetic Group, which has five models in the gearless range, plans to launch a new Y2Kinetic series that will have a mileage of about 50 km per litre. It is also trying to boost the sales of the 75-cc Kinetic Style, which has already sold 25,000 units in the last four months. The group is launching more models in the below 100-cc range, priced between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000. ''The real buyers for scooters are in the below Rs 40,000 price range,'' explains Motwani.

Competition is also hotting up for a slice of this new gearless pie. Even as Piaggio and Honda are in the process of firming up their launches, the largest player in the Rs 3,800-crore scooter segment-Bajaj Auto-is testing the waters with Saffire, India's first four-stroke gearless scooter. With a soft launch in Pune, and priced at Rs 35,000, the model, according to R.L. Ravichandran, 50, Vice-President (Business & Product Development), Bajaj Auto, ''will pull us out of the rut.''

Last year, Bajaj's sales recorded a drop of 9.28 per cent due to a dip in the sales of its conventional scooters: from 7.97 lakh in 1998-99 to 7.23 lakh in 1999-2000. The company's sale of ungeared vehicles was 70,000 units against 47,000 sold last year, and this growth has essentially been aided by the pick-up of its two-speed, 60-cc Spirit. The company is sprucing up its strategy with the 60-cc Spice-an upgraded version of the Sunny-priced at Rs 21,000, and scheduled to hit the Indian road in May, 2000. With these, Bajaj Auto hopes to sell nine lakh scooters this year, up from 7.93 lakh last year.

Essentially, scooter-manufacturers are banking on the fact that gearless scooters are fast becoming status-symbols for lower-income segments. Besides, they are looking at multiple-user households where a second vehicle is used by the college-goers and women, who would prefer a gearless vehicle. But as the geared models still constitute 72.5 per cent (scooterettes 18.5 per cent and gearless scooters 8.9 per cent) of the scooter market, Motwani has a long ride ahead before Kinetic can become a volumes player.

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