Scooters – the major sales generator for Indian auto companies

There are many reasons why Indians buy a two-wheeler. Its saves time, fuel, money and effort. The quest to own a two-wheeler by each household has made India one of the biggest two-wheeler industries in the world. But this was, however, dominated by motorcycles till the last few years, and now scooters have been consistently increasing their presence on the Indian roads.

As per an ET report, scooters are slowly gaining traction in the market. The scooter success story in India has seen some hairpin bends going from nearly 50 per cent of the market in 1996 to just 12 per cent around 10 years later. Now, less than a decade later, scooters have a market share of 28 per cent in the two-wheeler market. This has resulted in  many auto companies extending their focus to this segment. Hero MotoCorp is one such example. The company that sells Splendor motorcycles in millions shocked everyone at the 2014 Auto Expo by showcasing a vast range of scooters like the Dash, Dare and the Zir. As per our source, one more scooter named the Duet will extend the scooter line-up in the coming months. 

Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India is a clear leader in this space with nearly two million units in sales in 2014. Its Activa is the second largest selling product in the two-wheeler market, higher than Hero's long-standing best-seller Passion and second only to the Splendor. Currently, 53 per cent of HMSI's sales are scooters while 47 per cent comes from motorcycles. 

Many analysts say that the scooter space will see tremendous growth in the near future due to its practicality.  It is favoured by both men and women and it is in states that have a large percentage of working women, better roads and higher social indices that scooters typically do well.