Superbikes to conquer small towns

NEW DELHI: Like luxury cars, cruiser and sports bikes too seem to be attracting an ever increasing number of buyers in smaller towns and non-metro cities. Superbikes and cruisers like the Harley Davidson FXDB Street Bob or the Suzuki Hayabusa are finding connoisseur customers in cities like Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Bellary and Indore. Savvy marketers are now offering service outlets to customers in far-flung cities and building communities on which these iconic brands ride their sales. "For our range of bikes which are priced above Rs 10 lakh we are increasingly finding customers in Bhubaneswar , Kolkata and the north east," said NK Rattan, vice-president at Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India. "The demographic is actually the same - whether in Delhi or in Bhubaneswar,' said Anoop Prakash, MD, Harley Davidson India. 'These are young people, selfemployed or professionals, who are passionate about biking as a hobby. This expanding demand is a testimony of the rich heritage of biking in India."

Harley currently uses its metro dealerships to service its outpost customers. And its network expansion is now firmly non-metro - this year the company will add showrooms in places like Kochi and Jaipur. "It's inevitable that more and more demand will come from these non-metro cities," says Prakash. "What we're seeing is the development of a cruising culture." What has helped is the expansion of information. "Suddenly more and more people in these cities are aware that these bikes are now available in India," said Atul Gupta, VP-sales and marketing, Suzuki Motorcycle India. Though demand is small, the growth is not. "This year we sold 286 units of superbikes in the January-December period compared to 212 units in 2010. Of that 15% came from small towns as compared to 5% before."