More Sensual Pleasure / Km Ridden

Idling at a traffic signal...

Ana: How much noise!

Clado: It's noise?! It's not!

Ana: I just don't like it. Too much.

Clado: It's called 'phatphati'! Not for no reason.

Ana: But I don't like it.

Clado: Some time back, remember, I took you for a good long ride on a Bullet? That you didn't mind, huh?!

Ana: That was different.

Clado: Aahaaaa!
...

Clado: Look, I have a theory for this.
...

Clado: For most riders, it's the throbbing sensation under the butt that works!

Ana: Yuckkkk! I don't want to hear this.

Clado: Arre, I am serious! Okay, answer this. Can a machine make music?

Ana: Ummmmm yes in a way, yes!

Clado: That's what! Bullet makes music. That's my theory. The phat-phat or whatever we call is just like beats. Within a certain speed-range, it's a pleasing rhythm for riders. But go beyond a speed and you might not like it.
...

Clado: In fact, while I see a lot of riders rip Bullets for speed, I think a Bullet is an 'anti-speeding bike'. And that's the charm. Chug along nicely with the beats and the wind.
...

Ana: Hmm...
...

Clado: And the roads and the things lining these roads can best be enjoyed when the speed is within a limit. Bullet does that. Makes music. Rides great within a limit.
...

Ana: Okay, anyway, I don't like it that loud. Can we talk something else? Write this thesis when you go home.

Ignitor or Imposter

Clado: Ana, Ana, Ana....  
Clado is huff-puffing his way.
Clado: Ana...
Ana: Listening, Cladooooo!
Clado: Unbelievable! They've turned imposters now. Just found an evidence.
Ana: Whom are you talking about? And what evidence?
Clado: Remember, we rode the Honda Stunner?
Ana: Ya, I do. Naaaaaaice bike.
Clado: Now there's an Ignitor on the road. The same thing! Replica of Stunner!
Ana: Clado, they are better called twins.
Winks.
Clado: Ya, lost-at-birth kind of twins. The other one only shows up later in the movie, right?
Ana: Smaaart!

Impulse is silky smooth

Clado: Ana, am disgusted!
Ana: What happened?
Clado: The Hero Impulse...
Ana: You didn't like it?
Clado: They call it Transroader - on-road, off-road bike. Gaaawd! Disgusting!
Ana: Will you tell me what happened?
Clado: The bike looks like it would shoot off the block as soon as you sit on it. Instead, it runs like Honda Unicorn. Silk and smooth.
Ana: O' com' on, impulses also need to be graceful. Clado, I like the stickers in fact. And I really don't mind waving a silk scarf riding smoothly on this bike... Any bike, rather!
Clado: That's the problem, Ana, that's the problem.

New Yamaha Gladiator

Did I surprise you? Probably :)

Alright, Yamaha has discontinued Gladiator. So, is it good or bad? Depends on how Yamaha views the situation.

Here's a perspective. 

Gladiator has been around for quite some time. Few years, to say the least. Biking fraternity knows Gladiator. Why? May be coz of marketing, may be coz of blogs, may be coz of the fact that it comes from Yamaha. There could many more reasons.

Looking at it from purely a business point of view, the brand Gladiator seems to be present in prospects' minds, even if not favorably. In today's world, marketing is unarguably the biggest challenge and perhaps the biggest cost. I am asking, can Yamaha leverage this brand 'awareness' equity?

Of course! Few reasons to my claim and a couple of solutions.

The brand name GLADIATOR is very good. People can have views on the 'degree' of goodness but they can't deny that it can be a good motorcycle brand name. Coming from Yamaha, the name GLADIATOR has the potential to carry forward all the attributes attached to the brand Yamaha in India. You agree?

So, the name's taken care of. The awareness of the name is also taken care of. Now what?

Try imagining a 300cc kind of cruiser with the name Gladiator. Try imagining a naked 250cc (or even a 150cc with a good big tank :)) with the name Gladiator and coming from Yamaha.

To my mind, the second offering might fit better. Importantly what it could do is save Yamaha the hard part of marketing coz the name is already there in people's minds. It will also match the actual product with the already established name and therefore, find it easy to get people to accept the bike.

The thing is if a Hero Honda Hunk (I don't deny it's a decent bike) could sell here, a 250cc naked Gladiator would rock. Besides, aren't Gladiators often imagined naked, if we go by the Hollywood movies :)!

Yamaha into scooters?!

A bikeindia.in report says that Yamaha is launching scooters in India. Scooters! Yes, scooters!

Okay, how do people in India perceive Yamaha? Performance bikes, right?

Has Yamaha done well in India? Not really. It just seems to be coming back on track. But has it? Not really, sales have to prove it yet.

What is Yamaha's market share in India? Barely 5%. Can it play the offensive game? Not really. But given it muscle it can at least adopt a flanking strategy. Is it doing that? Yes. Has it met with some success? Yes. What should be the next move? Capitalize by pushing further with the flanking strategy and perhaps go on the offensive.

So, what does it do? Launch tiny scooters! What'll happen? Your guess is as good as mine.

Yamaha needs to focus for the moment instead of getting distracted by launching products totally unrelated to the current perception of Yamaha. Otherwise, it could be staring down into yet another empty well.

TVS, where dost thou go? (Part-3)

Alright, so the Chennai High Court verdict has gone against TVS. Consequence: TVS can't produce and market TVS Flame in its current shape. If the engine is replaced (rather rendered in a way that it isn't seen as theft of Bajaj's patented technology) then, of course it can still sell Flame. It's a dampener surely for TVS. This gives me one more opportunity to take a dig at TVS's marketing strategy; though, only for its good.

I've been watching more Apaches on the road. They are also more noticeable and better representatives of TVS; Apache is a good product (mind you, not brand; I said 'product') to say the least, or that's what I make out from various magazine reviews, that's what I make out when I compare it to earlier products like Fiero, and Victor etc, that's what I make out when I compare it to other products in the same category.

Apache has also helped improve TVS's market share. In its category, it's second only to Pulsar! Wait, wait. But then how many other brands are there? Achiever, Unicorn, Hunk... Any more?

Marketing men responsible for marketing Apache and the agency (or agencies) responsible for devising the 'brand strategy' for TVS Apache would like definitely like to feel good for themselves - Apache has succeeded coz of them. I am sorry; Apache worked in spite of their strategy! I would like to think that Apache worked solely because it is a good product and, because there was no great alternative other than Pulsar to look forward to in the 150cc category. And so people voted for the Apache; anti-incumbency factor, you call that in Politics. Though note that, Pulsar hasn't been dethroned; so the anti-incumbency factor is only restricted to Politics. Markets are ruled by brands and categories they can believably stand for.

Cut to the point. The current campaign says 'It's now or never'. Say what? What does it mean? How does that represent the bike, the brand Apache? Yes, there would be some convoluted, layered explanation for that line. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Pulsar says 'Definitely male' - amply clear. What's 'now or never'?

Observe Apache and Pulsar a little carefully and you might find a few differences. Or if you haven't observed but read the biking magazine reviews, you would have read that Apache is slightly smaller in size, both in seat height and length (wheel-base) - nothing negative about it though. Also, it looks 'more' compact. It is said to have more power (in 'bhp'; I am not a technical person, so hope you get the point). Also, TVS has a good racing pedigree. Many of its racers and bikes have won national motorcycle racing championships. In fact, it also has a training school for racing.

Marketing men often try sounding and feeling intellectual; nothing wrong with that too but if it comes at the cost of ignoring the obvious, then it can hurt.

In my earlier post (Part-2) of this series, I had suggested three positioning options for TVS. Here's the fourth:

Compact Race Machines

Alternatively, we can just say,

Race Machines

Straight, direct, impactful and converts the so-called negative 'small size' (if it is thought to be a negative) into a purposeful positive attribute. Why 'race'? Coz that's the ultimate arena for performance bikes. Also, it is a silent acknowledgment of the status quo (Pulsar is first, Apache is second) and yet a rebellious powerful intent (come on Pulsar, let's slug it out). It's a challenge. No harm in acknowledging the status-quo and still standing upright. Remember, we like the underdogs (in fact, we relate to them, don't we?) who have the guts to fight it out. Anti-incumbency factor (external) + an inspiring intent (internal) is a deadly combo.

That's too direct, say the marketing men! Then, let me coin something abstract but reflecting the same thought as above:

Packs a Punch!

Let's be honest. Doesn't it sound better? Doesn't it accord a better position to Apache; a position that would justify the beauty of the product and give it the due commercial success? In fact, it offer a strong platform for TVS's future bikes too.

Unsolicited but with good intent.

TVS, where dost thou go? (Part-2)

Part-1 ended like this:

With so much working against it and without a lot of money, how is TVS gonna survive this onslaught by the biggies? By focussing and by choosing its category and by being the first in that category. If there's no defined category left empty, then it had better create and define a new category and be the first there. How?

So, how does TVS create a new category? And what could this new category be?

Hero Honda led the foray in the big/premium bikes segment by launching the 150cc CBZ. Around that time, Bajaj had just about decided that it wasn't scooters for them; bikes were their future. Hero Honda was all over the place with its economy bikes; Bajaj was also present in that segment but was only a challenger at best with little success. The premium segment had just been created. Yamaha's 2-stroke performance bikes were losing ground to external factors and were being phased out. So the premium segment was all open and so was the performance segment too. For a while, in the Indian context, think of premium and performance segments as one (for obvious reasons). But back then these were the only prominent segments. What did Bajaj do? While the premium segment was still in the making it launched the Bajaj Eliminator - a 175cc cruiser. Very soon it launched, 150cc and 180cc Pulsars. Thankfully for Bajaj, it wasn't doing anything great in the economy segment. While Eliminator got drubbed with the launch of Yamaha Enticer, the former combined with the Pulsars did enough to place Bajaj as a high-end bikemaker.

In branding, it's always easy to bring a high-end brand to lower levels but mighty tough to make the lower-end brand a high end one. Bajaj hadn't established itself so well in any segment, so when it did something worthwhile at the higher-end, it was perceived accordingly. Hero Honda, on the other hand, suffered partially because of its strong association with economy segment. However, the biggest clincher for Bajaj was the fact that it launched a 180cc variant of the Pulsar; bigger than 150cc CBZ. That built the brand Pulsar. Other elements like price and fuel-efficiency played their part. In other words, the competition was repositioned. CBZ was outclassed.

Can TVS Apache outclass the Pulsar? Pulsar has variants like 150cc, 180cc, 200cc and 220cc. If TVS makes 160cc Apache RTR, it doesn't threaten the Pulsar dominance in anyway. It's simply surviving as a competitor; not calling shots as a leader. Pulsar is perceived as the first to the pole in 150cc to 220cc market and Bajaj has focussed unwaveringly on this segment. Needless to say Pulsar is touted as the brand to aspire for instead of the Karizma which was the first mover but suffered with the strong Hero Honda tag attached to it.

TVS needs to do more. Can it reposition Pulsar by quickly introducing a 250cc or 300cc bike before Bajaj introduces one? If TVS manages to do so, it will be the one to call the shots and therefore be perceived as a leader at par or a little ahead of its competitors. Therefore, option-1 for TVS is to be the first to launch a higher end bike in the range 250cc to 300cc.

Let's get to the option-2 through some pictures. Have a look at these bikes which are ruling the markets right now. Observe the common elements in design:

Hero Honda Karizma 225

Sporty, right?












Hero Honda CBZ Xtreme


Sporty, right?











Hero Honda NXG


Sporty, right?














Bajaj Pulsar 180



Sporty, right?












Bajaj Pulsar 220


Sporty, right?












Bajaj Discover



Sporty, right?










Bajaj XCD



Sporty, right?











Bajaj Platina



Sporty, right?












TVS Apache



Sporty, right?









TVS Star City



Sporty, right?










TVS Flame (will be seen soon on roads)



Sporty, right?











Can design be a differentiator? In bikes, definitely! All the bikes have fairing of some sort, the tank extends from headlight to the tail. Machines seem covered. The bikes exude sportiness, much like the bikes seen in races.

What should TVS do? Bring in 'naked' bikes. Yes, much like RD350 and RX100 that became the flag-bearers for Yamaha. Since they are no longer there in the market, TVS has the ground ready to conquer. In fact, it might be a gold-mine if looked at with serious intent. These bikes could exude street-sport, not track-sport. Got the point? That's option-2.

Any other option? Yes, Bajaj is emphasizing that Avenger is a 'trip' bike. All Royal Enfield bikes are 'trip' bikes. While these cruisers are fighting the battles for the highways, can TVS look at the city-roads? Which means, TVS should launch city-cruisers. Yes, and call them city-cruisers'. Alternatively, TVS can make bikes for easy-riders and leave sport-riders for other players.

It really is now or never for TVS. Are you listening?

TVS, where dost thou go? (Part-1)

Here's a list of big players in the biking arena. If you are just given a few words to describe what each of these bike-makers stand for as brands, your list might look like this (in alphabetical order):

Bajaj - Exciting bikes
Hero Honda - Economy & Reliable bikes
Honda - ? (Scooters perhaps or perhaps....)
Suzuki - ? (Well, they make 125cc bikes and they've launched 125cc scooter too but...)
TVS - ? (Very likely scooterrettes and they are also making good bikes which can be called performance bikes but... Oh, well they make economy bikes too but...)
Yamaha - Performance bikes

You might agree that Hero Honda stands for economy and reliable bikes. That explains their failure in premium-segment bikes.

You'll debate on the descriptions given for Bajaj and Yamaha. Doesn't Bajaj stand for 'performance'? Yamaha doesn't have anything related to 'performance', then how can it be described as such? I'll clarify these questions by asking a few questions in turn.

Yamaha hasn't launched anything that can closely called as 'performance bike'. Right? Right. But if it does launch something in the range of 150cc to 200cc, will you go rushing to the 2-wheeler dealers? Yes. Why? Because you might think, finally, Yamaha has launched a performance bike. Current understanding is such that higher-end bikes are supposed to mean that. Yamaha's heritage has been just about performance in this country.

Bajaj, on the other hand, has been producing bikes which perform but not at the cost of hurting the biker's pockets. Let me explain the point again.

Take two 150cc bikes - one from Bajaj and the other from Yamaha. Assume your intention is to buy a performance bike. Which one will you buy given a free hand? Most likely, the latter. Now, put a few constraints; you want a performance bike but reasonably priced and with decent fuel-efficiency. Which one would you go for? Bajaj, isn't it? So Bajaj is 'exciting'. Yamaha is 'performance'. Yes, that's the power of the brand. In spite of doing practically nothing for almost a decade, the brand owns that word (if not the category) and that's its biggest asset.

Only three brands have defined the segments clearly. The other three aren't interested in defining but they are interested in fighting hard in the battlefield! Wow!

I would like to think for the best underdog in the Indian biking arena. TVS. But why TVS? It is the third biggest bike marketer in the country, behind Hero Honda and Bajaj but ahead of HMSI, Yamaha and Suzuki. The first two are making tonnes of money, in hundreds of crores. The last three are Japs and are sitting on huge successes, global reputations and of course, loads of money to splurge even when they would make losses. TVS, the odd man, made a profit of just a few crores on their hundreds of crores of sales. As exciting as the biking industry is in this country, it also requires lots of money to put into R&D and new product launches. In such a scenario, TVS looks to be in trouble in spite of good bikes. And that's because its space in the India biking industry isn't defined. Churning good or superior products isn't a problem. But if those good products are in the category where there are established leaders, then you have little to gain .

TVS is spread too thin. It makes Star City in the economy segment. Star claims better mileage than Splendor but sells in the ratio 1:10. It has Apache in the 'exciting' segment but Pulsar seems to outsell it 5:1. It makes scooterrettes (where it has been fairly successful with Scooty and its upgrades) but fights against the likes of Honda. In fact, Scooty was earlier defined as a proper scooterrette but these upgrades have only taken it closer to the scooter category where Honda has dominance. Another strategy which could force the company downhill. TVS also has Victor GLX and Flame in the premium commuter 125cc bikes segment where it fights with Bajaj (which is leading the pack currently with a lot of innovation), Suzuki, Hero Honda, HMSI and Yamaha. With so much working against it and without a lot of money, how is TVS gonna survive this onslaught by the biggies?

By focussing and by choosing its category and by being the first in that category. If there's no defined category left empty, then it had better create and define a new category and be the first there. How?

Being first almost makes you a leader

Hero Honda recently launched another new bike called HUNK in the 150cc category. The name says it all - whom the bike is targeted at. And one look also tells you what it is supposed to do. Thrill and excite. In short, it’s a Sports bike and positioned for performance.

As part of its strategy Hero Honda surely has a serious motive behind introducing this bike. It wants to undermine the dominance of Pulsar.

Bikers would easily recall that when Pulsar was introduced some years back, the campaign said ‘Definitely male’. Not just the words, but even the styling meant just that. The bike was the first to come with a huge muscular looking fuel tank. That set the tone for Pulsar and set it clearly apart in the league of motorcycles. A few months later, bikers confirmed that the driving performance was good too. That established and confirmed Pulsar’s claim ‘Definitely male’.

Pulsar wasn’t the first bike in 150cc category. Hero Honda already had CBZ in the market for a couple of years by then. Though critics had applauded the bike, commercially CBZ wasn’t doing that great. Though aficionados liked it, among the general masses it was perceived as a fuel-guzzler, very contradictory to what Hero Honda has always stood for – fuel efficiency and reliability (remember the famous campaign ‘Fill it, shut it, forget it’ in the eighties and early nineties). Also, perhaps the conditions were such that performance bikes weren’t fitting the economic preferences of the bikers at large.

Everything said, Hero Honda was the first mover in 150cc 4-stroke performance biking. CBZ was the only bike in the category and therefore, by default, the leader. The campaign said, “Motorcycling Unplugged” and the ad also featured a guy flaunting the bike to impress girls.

Then the came the competitors, TVS Suzuki with Fiero and Bajaj with Pulsar. Fiero had very little to stand on. The name was good but the looks and the performance belied the name. Fiero was a disaster. As stated above, Pulsar was distinctive. It also had the best fuel-efficiency for a 150cc bike. The bike’s campaign was a clear departure in the opposite direction (from CBZ). While the CBZ campaign showed the rider in a ‘chocolaty’ light, the Bajaj campaign hit a raw nerve - it showed a guy performing a wheelie (read "for his own pleasure, not to impress girls") and conveyed the message ‘Definitely male’. Bajaj had taken a leap.

With 2-stroke bikes being phased out and, Yamaha doing very little to offer anything exciting in 4-stroke bikes, Bajaj captured the ‘performance’ (though I would prefer the word ‘exciting’) biking category. The situation also helped Bajaj – perhaps bikers had been waiting for the right bike and their economic conditions were also improving.

Bajaj firmed its grip with rapid innovation and with its higher end models Pulsar 180 and Pulsar 220.

Seen in this light, does Hunk stand a chance to capture the performance biking market from Pulsar? Pulsar is ‘Definitely male’ and bikers have accepted it. Can there be a second ‘Definitely male’? I doubt. Hero Honda was the first in 4-stroke performance biking but Bajaj was the first to focus on the category. It defined the category sharply and in that sense Bajaj was the first. Hero Honda is still economy and reliability. Pulsar is performance and exciting.

That's why Hero Honda failed with Achiever and CBZ X-treme. The failure was compounded by the fact that people knew Hero Honda was using Honda Unicorn engine in these models. Definitely didn't help matters when Bajaj was perceived to be innovating.

My verdict: Hunk is good, perhaps great. But it’s about creating a new category, being the first in that category and most importantly, focusing on it. Hunk might come second but won’t be formidable enough to threaten Pulsar.