Once upon a time, very long ago, Bajaj Auto was the undisputed leader of India’s two wheeler market, which was dominated by scooters. And its chief, Rahul Bajaj, was the undisputed king of scooters not just in India, but in the global market, too. So great was the demand for Bajaj scooters that its flagship brand — Bajaj Chetak — had a waiting list of over 10 years. “You just can’t beat a Bajaj,” used to be the slogan of the company those days. But a rash of 100-cc bikes with modern technology entered the market. Within years, Bajaj was struggling to sell scooters even as the motorcycle market took off. Bajaj, in fact, found that it was selling far more motorcycles than its scooters — and one day, the company decided to get out of the scooter market, which had become almost nonexistent anyway.

The story of scooters in India should have ended there, but it didn’t. Suddenly, scooters are making a comeback in a big way in the country. Last year, more than 2 million scooters were sold in India — far more than what used to sell in the heydays of Bajaj scooters. The market is growing at over 40 per cent — and suddenly every other manufacturer wants to play in it. So how did a market once given up for dead suddenly make a comeback?

Just Scoot
According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), scooter sales in 2010-11 stood at 2.07 million, up 42 per cent from the previous fiscal’s 1.46 million. Sales of the old scooter killer, the motorcycle, in the comparable period were 9.02 million, up 23 per cent (7.34 million). Now you may argue the scooter growth number is higher because of the base effect. That is correct, but only partly.

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The total number of two-wheelers sold in 2010-11 was 11,790,305 units; the share of scooters was 18 per cent, while that of motorcycles was 76.4 per cent (the rest were mopeds). Rating agency Icra in a report notes that until 1998, scooters were the largest segment in two-wheelers and accounted for 39 per cent of sales. In 1997, scooter sales had peaked in India — at 1.25 million. By 1999, the reign of scooters came to an end — for the first time, motorcycle sales overtook that of scooters, selling 1.39 million bikes against 1.22 million scooters. By 2001, the scoreboard read: motorcycles at 48 per cent; scooters at 33 per cent. The point is, 2 million scooters sell today, which is more than half a million more than the number of scooters sold in 1997, when scooters were the dominant two-wheelers in India.

What’s behind this revival in the fortunes? You might or might not have a woman behind every successful man. In the case of scooters, it is because women are on top of it. “Earlier, only men used to ride motorcycles or scooters. The economic rise of small towns saw a large numbers of women ready for scooters,” says auto expert Murad Ali Baig. Honda Motors and Scooters India (HMSI) spotted the opportunity and introduced Honda Activa. It had all the works of a 100-cc motorcycle. “It meant that the scooter was back,” adds Baig.

“The target demographic segment for entry-level scooters (mostly ungeared) is women (students and professionals). Manufacturers are also targeting a section of the male population who want a light vehicle for easy driving on congested roads,” says Abdul Majeed, who leads the auto practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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“I prefer a scooter because it is easy to drive and comfortable,” says Smitha K., a social worker from New Delhi. She is a self-confessed scooter-addict, and got her first love, a Kinetic Honda, way back in 1994. She jettisoned it for a better-looking Kinetic Y2k in 2001, but was not happy with its performance. Two years ago, she settled for a Suzuki Access125. It is not the likes of Smitha alone who are responsible for scooters making a comeback. Bajaj followed the Japanese as it made a lot of sense: if you cannot beat them, join them. But this also cleared the road for more scooters to ride in.

New Rulers
HMSI recently launched the 110 cc New Activa, which gives 15 per cent more mileage (55 km per litre); it compares favourably to a motorcycle’s fuel appetite. “With products such as Dio, Activa and Aviator, scooters contribute around 60 per cent to our overall revenue. Activa is our largest selling scooter,” says Naresh Rattan, vice-president (sales, marketing and corporate affairs), at market leader, HMSI.

Rival TVS with its four offerings will focus on a new product every year, across segments. “We have Scooty for women, Wego for couples. That’s how we differentiate our products,” says H.S. Goindi, president-marketing at TVS Motor Co. It plans to sell 2.4 million two wheelers annually; 15-20 per cent would be scooters. “People look for a multipurpose vehicle these days. That can be driven by men and women. We get calls from customers who want to buy a vehicle that can be used by the family (daughter, wife and son),” says Surendra Singh, sales head at G.S. Motors, a TVS dealer in Ghaziabad.