Women Power Hones Scooter Market and How!

Women power! There still might be a few who are not too happy to see women taking charge ahead of males. But at least one segment is such that would not mind women taking the lead, rather they would like to see more women with them! You think Casanova? We talk of the scooter segment of two wheeler market in India. There was a time, around six years ago from now, when the two wheeler market meant motorcycles. Motorcycles, the report says, led the market by 84% share. With women feeling more empowered now, their need to be independent increases and so happens with the scooter segment of two wheelers. With the scooters coming back to the show, bikes have fallen down to 75%. And it is the women who ride most of the scoots in India. It is the females of the country who have totally overtaken the scoots. Unlikely, but true!

With the kind of scooters doing rounds in our country, the scoots are made very light in weight and easy to handle since most of them are gearless, it is just Piaggio Vespa LX 125 that is a geared scooter in India. The scooters preferred by women are self-start, gearless, light, tubeless (generally), thus a gift in disguise for women. However, it is not just women who ride these, but also is being rode by men, generally the aged ones for whom motorbike would be difficult to handle. With the evolving segment, the manufacturers have started bringing out unisex scoots now.
And it is not just us who believe the scooter segment to be expanding its grasp in the two wheeler market. The top two wheeler manufacturers too are sure of this growing trend. TVS Motor, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, Yamaha, Hero MotoCorp have dived into the game now. Few of those seen most often on the road are Hero MotoCorp Maestro, Honda Activa, Hero Honda Pleasure, Honda Dio, Honda Eterno, etc.  The President of Marketing, TVS Motors, H.S. Goinidi, words to be quoted, “ The scooter segment has been outgrowing motorcycles for a while now and it will continue to do so. The growth in scooter sales can largely be attributed to girls taking to biking. The availability of multi-use products that are easy to handle have helped the market grow.” The reports of scooter sales support this fact. The report for the month of May show scooter segment grow by 34%, while the motorbikes managed just a 7%. To calculate the growth for the past six years, there has been a steady growth from 12% six years ago to 19% in the contemporary times. With such a growth, companies are gearing up for the upcoming competition. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India is looking forward to increase the production of their scoot models now. With their sales stats looking up and up every month, HMSI gives a huge credit to it scooters too. "There has been a definite trend of women taking to scooters, particularly automatic ones that have self start and are easy to use," is what Y.S. Guleria, HMSI's VP for Sales and Marketing has to say. He goes on to add, "But it's also a family vehicle and in design and style have a broader appeal as well."