The Hindu Business Line : Riding into a new market with Pleasure

OVER the years, the Indian automobile industry has seen the dominant players hog market share in almost every vehicular category, be it two-wheelers or passenger cars. How these companies managed to stay ahead ranged from having the first mover advantage and, at times, benefiting even from the Government's protectionist policies.

But the tumultuous changes in the last decade following the deregulation of the automobile industry saw existing companies face unprecedented challenges to their dominance. These automobile companies discovered that like in other walks of life, staying at the top was extremely difficult and required them to constantly reinvent themselves.

Maruti Udyog has done so to protect and retain its 50 per cent-plus market share in the passenger car segment, as also has Bajaj Auto, shaking off its focus on scooters as the its primary two-wheeler offering and joining the the growing motorcycle brigade.

Though yet to fully unfold, another classic example of this reinvention story is Hero Honda's — Bajaj's rival. In the early 1990s, when the other two-wheeler manufacturers were only attempting to dabble with motorcycles (that too with two-stroke engines) as an additional low-volume option and when scooters still ruled the roads, Hero Honda chose to bet squarely on four-stroke bikes as its only focus segment. Of course, years later, the shift in favour of bikes and the emphasis on much more stringent emission norms meant that Hero Honda's four-stroke bike focus paid off.

Reinventing itself

That was part of the lore that others in the two-wheeler industry have had to learn from, by which time Hero Honda had already cornered a massive chunk of the market for two-wheelers. But despite its clairvoyance, its first mover advantage and the high market share, Hero Honda had the image of being a manufacturer of quality entry-level or commuter class motorcycles only.

The company has found it difficult to change this image and find greater acceptance amongst customers as a manufacturer of two-wheelers in other categories too. This has meant that it has not been able to replicate or sustain the success it enjoys in selling commuter class bikes for its higher-powered (150cc+) bikes.

If those offerings in the performance bikes segment were part attempts at redefining itself, the biggest one yet will be Hero Honda's latest product — the scooterette `Pleasure'.

This will be a unique experiment for Hero Honda, a company, which unlike the others in the industry, will take the road backwards in developing a scooterette after being the market leader in the bikes segment.

The Pleasure will not be just another new product that has come from a market leader that is seemingly running short of ideas for retaining its share. It will not only allow the company to enter a hitherto unexplored segment, but more importantly, the new scooterette will allow Hero Honda to truly legitimise its claims that relations with the Japanese collaborator could not have been better.

Honda lineage evident

The Pleasure has been under development for quite sometime now, and at first glance it impresses with its fit and finish quality. There are no signs that it is a first attempt at the segment for Hero Honda. Its design cues, attention to detail and shared components are indicative of the co-development efforts that the two partners have put in for the Pleasure.

In fact, many of the features, such as the tuff-up tube (first featured in the Honda Activa), have actually been carried forward from scooters currently being offered by the Japanese partner's wholly-owned subsidiary — Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India. The benefits of hindsight and on-road experience are evident in the Pleasure, though it is Hero Honda's first foray into this segment.

First impressions

Hero Honda calls the Pleasure its first scooter, but its looks and feel gives one the impression of it being smaller than the Honda Activa or the Bajaj Wave. This feeling of it being more compact, and in terms of size closer to the TVS Scooty, is more due to its sleek frontal appearance. Thumb the self-start switch and the Pleasure's performance is obviously on a par with its fuller-sized rivals.

In the front, the Pleasure sports a crescent shaped headlamp on the handle bar. Triangular turn indicators have been integrated into the scooterette's ABS body panel , which also wears a prominent semi-circular lip giving it a smiling countenance.

The theme has been carried forward to the rearas well, where the tail lamp cluster with integrated turn indicators have also been given a semi-circular layout.

The Pleasure's switchgear, similar-sized tyres and tuff-up tube combo and a few bodylines all seem to remind one of the existing Honda scooters. Ground clearance at 125mm is a shade lower than some of the competition's scooters. But with a wheelbase of 1,240mm, it is longer than that of the Honda Dio and the Bajaj Wave.

Utility features in the Pleasure — such as the bag hook, the open inner rack and considerable leg space in the front that can be used for storage and the under seat storage box for putting away a helmet and more — are similar to what the others offer .

Large hearted

At first glance, the Pleasure looks like a scooterette that will only feature an engine that is in the 80cc class or thereabouts. The air-cooled, four-stroke, single cylinder, 102cc engine gives the Pleasure as much power and torque as the Activa and the Dio which have similar-sized engines, and is about one bhp lower than the peak power output of the Bajaj Wave's 110cc engine. Peak power rating for this engine has been set at 7 bhp at 7,000 rpm and the maximum torque output is 7.85 Nm at 5,500 rpm.

No wonder, the Pleasure is as much fun to drive as the Honda scooters. With its kerb weight being a shade lower, the Pleasure's handling and fuel efficiency should also be marginally better than the Activa's and the Dio's.

The Pleasure's transmission is variomatic and the electric self-start option comes as part of standard fitment. Braking is done by 130mm internally expanding show type brakes that come with asbestos-free pads. The suspension set-up involves a bottom link with a spring-loaded hydraulic damper at the front and a swing arm with a spring-loaded hydraulic damper at the rear.

The ex-showroom price of the Pleasure, only one variant of which is currently being offered, is about Rs 36,500. Optional accessories offered include a side stand and a saree-guard with an integrated step for the pillion. The scooterette is available with eight body colours and many of them, especially orange, candy blazing red, aqua green, light purple and moon yellow, are meant to attract women.

Better late than never, but...

Being a latecomer to the variomatic two-wheeler party, Hero Honda has focused its marketing and promotional efforts at attracting women buyers, in the hope of creating a niche in this increasingly crowded segment. It is also offering other exclusive services and features to attract women, such as the `Just4Her' chain of Pleasure showrooms that will exclusively cater to women customers, a first in the industry.

Other femme features and freebies include membership to the `Lady Rider' club that will offer women free gifts, discounts on spare parts and deals on vehicle insurance. Hero Honda also plans to offer free pickup and repair assistance for lady scooterette owners. The company is also giving a two-year/ 24,000 km warranty on the Pleasure.

`Why should boys have all the fun?' is the punch line of the Pleasure ads. Other scooterette manufacturers were hesitant to take this line though market research showed that women riders were always the targetfor this segment. In fact, the original Kinetic Honda was the harbinger of this trend. But Hero Honda's sharp focus on women could lead to lower acceptance amongst male buyers who, of course, still constitute the overwhelming majority of two-wheeler owners.

It is better late than never for Hero Honda with this scooterette and the company's legendary image of reliability and focus on fuel efficiency favour the Pleasure's attempts at cornering market share.

But another issue that will determine the new product's performance will be the impending launch of new scooterettes by Bajaj and Kinetic-Italjet.

More Stories on : Two/Three Wheelers | New Products & Services | Auto Focus

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page