Disrupting the two-wheeler market with game-changing products has been a key part of Honda’s strategy for India since the time it launched the Activa over 15 years ago.

Honda had, in fact, unleashed the automatic scooter revolution earlier in its joint venture with the Pune-based Kinetic group. After the two parted ways, the Activa eventually followed from its recently created subsidiary, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI).

The Activa has, of course, been a spectacular success; though another disruptor in the form of the more recent Navi turned out to be a disappointment. Honda is now hoping for better things with the recently launched 110 cc Cliq scooter, which has been launched in just three states targeting semi-urban and rural buyers.

Y S Guleria, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, HMSI, says the time is ripe to go aggressively rural. This is where the Cliq is expected to play a big role with its price tag of around ₹45,000 (against the average scooter price of ₹60,000 plus), which is closer to an average 110 cc bike and slightly more than mopeds.

Better roads are paving the way for scooters in rural India and Honda is keen on coming into the “consideration set” of progressive buyers. “By this, we mean those families who encourage both sexes to be economically and socially independent,” says Guleria.

With the Cliq, the commonly held perception of anything automatic being expensive will no longer be valid. Likewise, the bogey of lower mileage has also been busted with better technology in scooters while styling adds to the glam quotient.

Honda believes the Cliq has got all that a rural buyer needs in terms of unisex design, optional load carriers, strong braking systems, huge underseat storage and so on. As a result, it could hopefully replicate the success Activa saw in cities.

The regions chosen for the Cliq’s initial foray also reflect a carefully thought out strategy. Given that 54 per cent of two-wheeler buyers in Chennai are in the automatic scooter segment, this will hopefully lead to a rub-off effect in rural Tamil Nadu. The moped dominates here and it will be interesting to gauge the market’s reaction to the Cliq.

Likewise, the decision to debut in “a very, very conservative” market like Rajasthan was a challenge, though deliberate in intent from the viewpoint of targeting rural customers. Maharashtra was a natural choice as the second market since Honda reigns supreme there while Tamil Nadu is the latest to join the Cliq bandwagon.

Guleria is realistic in his estimates about the scooter’s success. “One cannot expect things to change overnight though as a market leader, we would like to lead scooterisation in rural India. We have the edge in terms of scale, which allows us to offer products at prices that fit the rural buyer’s budget,” he says.

Automatic scooters are closing in on bikes in the entry segment (100-110 cc) with the difference being a mere three percentage points. During April-July 2017, bikes in this category accounted for 37 per cent of sales with scooters at 34 per cent.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW