The ungeared scooter market is back in gear

The ungeared scooter market is back in gear. Enthused by the growth in this segment, companies like Yamaha and Suzuki are driving out new products. The top 3 bike makers are also revving up their scooter pipeline.

Declining sales and sliding margins are compelling two-wheeler makers like Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda and TVS Motors to look at the ungeared scooter market. Sample this, motorcycles posted negative growth of almost 15% in the April to august quarter but Scooters however, grew by 19% during the same period. Surprisingly, the youngest player HMSI is the market leader with 59 per cent market share with TVS coming in second. This growth has led players like Suzuki, Yamaha to add scooters to their India product line.

"Fortunately automatic Scooter market has not gone down, with 125 cc scooters we are making a new segment and see growth,” says Atul Gupta, VP - Sales & Marketing, Suzuki Motorcycles India

Even existing players like kinetic, Bajaj and Hero Honda are gearing up with new launches. Hero Honda, which has just one product Pleasure in this segment, is planning more launches. TVS has launched its TVS scooty PEP+ and has promised more. Bajaj has launched the un-geared scooter, Kristal DTS-I and will soon launch the Blade DTS-I.

"We sell about 10,000 scooters a month and we see the number growing,” adds Anil Dua, VP, Marketing & Sales, Hero Honda

As the 2-wheeler industry vroomed, manufacturers of scooters took a beating. But now the cycle seems to have turned full circle with bike sales slowing down and scooters revving up. With more products in the pipeline the ungeared scooter market seems to back in gear.