I spent a generous amount of time at the recently concluded Auto Expo 2018. Must say I was impressed with the show in terms of facilities, ease of going around, crowd management, places to rest and of course, things to see. Lots of positives to carry back and most of them about the two-wheeler industry. For me, Auto Expo 2018 was actually about the two-wheelers on display. Forget the media’s obsession with just cars and SUVs, the highlights of the show, the true technology demonstrators and the showstoppers were all crammed into the second floor of the Expo venue. Before the Expo started, there were numerous articles on how major brands are staying away from the show and how it would be a lackluster event this time. They obviously did not have any idea of what the two wheelers industry had in store for the 6 lakh visitors over the 6 days.
We saw new brands like Emflux, Twenty Two, Menza, Cleveland and Okinawa. They made huge statements both through their products as well as their sheer levels of confidence. I would not call them start-ups as I have personally never experienced such levels of both assertiveness and audacity in start-ups. We had some awesome electric mobility demonstrators, right from the TVS Creon, to the UM Renegade Thor, to the Honda PCX. Both global giants as well as new Indian brands were rubbing shoulders showing off their individual R&D prowess. Also, innovation relevant to local market insights found an example in the TVS Apache 200 Ethanol.
It was heartening to see all brands, new, young and established, trying out various options to express their individual visions of future mobility. We saw scooters reasserting themselves in the mindspace of the consumer by introducing new segments like moto-scooters, new technologies like electric and new versions of best-sellers. Basically telling the consumer that the scooter is evolving from just reliable commuting as in the Honda Activa 5G and Hero Maestro Edge 125 to also racing as in the TVS Ntorq and Aprilia SR 125, touring as in the Suzuki Burgman. What pleases me no end is that India right now is leading the charge of the scooter, both exploding as well as driving the image of the two-wheeler market.
We saw some significant product launches in the form of the Honda XBlade, the Hero XPulse, the Aprilia SR 125 and a slew of high-end performance bikes from Yamaha, Kawasaki and BMW. I asked a handful of visitors at the exit gates and almost half of them did not know where the two-wheelers were and therefore missed out on them. Also, they said they had only read about the cars and SUVs being shown at the Expo in the newspapers and not about the bikes and scooters. And this is what really bothers me. The two-wheeler industry is literally the foundation of the Indian automotive industry, providing mobility, generating business, creating employment and, also creating the pipeline for people to graduate to four wheelers.
So why is it not showcased better? Why is it not held up as the ‘hero’ of the Expo? Why should the Tata H5X be so much written about and not the TVS Zeppelin? I agree that it is the four-wheeler that is the ultimate aspiration, but does that mean that the two-wheeler will be treated as a step-through? Within the industry the two-wheeler is subliminally relegated to the second position as personal mobility.
This year’s Auto Expo however had me asking, is it time for India to have a dedicated two-wheeler show?