Scooters add speed to Two-Wheeler sales

The wheels now appear to be turning for scooters to reclaim their leadership status in India’s personal transport industry. The latest data from the world’s biggest two-wheeler market show that one in three such vehicles sold now is a scooter, reflecting a turnaround for the narrow wheel mode of transport that began trailing motorcycles — with wider and bigger tyres — about 25 years ago. The latest sales data would revive memories of the mid-1980s, when scooter buyers waited months before companies could deliver the vehicles. The delays were largely due to state-set controls on output volumes amid a pronounced preference for scooters. However, better fuel efficiency had tilted the scales in favour of the widewheeled motorcycles since the mid-1980s after one of India’s most durable joint ventures between the Hero Group and Japan’s Honda transformed the country’s personal-transport industry. Motorcycles outran scooters for their ability to negotiate India’s pot-holed roads, and were considered safer because of their bigger wheel-base.