I miss the bloody thumbs up button here!!

FYI those figures are ideal mileage figures tested by ARAI. Whch are impossible to attain in real world. In fact discover100 churns out much better mileage & power than HH rivals. So think a little bit before saying something.

if HH sells in entry level segment doesn't mean they got best products of the lot. Its their wide service backup, spare availability, right perception of mileage giving engines and most importantly the simplicity or conservative design of their products which tend to attract more people in rural areas.

In that case you should have noticed that Rajiv Bajaj had his reasons for doing so. It wasn't bad sales that led to XCD125/135's termination, let me tell you they were doing good 40k units between them every month. But that's not what Rajiv Bajaj wanted, they wanted xcd brand to get them 80k units per month, which was not happening. There was also a confusion between Disco 135 & xcd 135.

So, they did the most logical thing to do. Remove the confusion by stream lining their product line-up. Now, they have focussed line-ups for premium segment & commuter segment in Pulsar & Discover. Even Platina/Avenger are not going to be terminated, but there will not be any effort to push them (as per Rajiv Bajaj).

Others have discontinued products due to poor sales(read Ambition, CBZ classic, TVS Centra etc), but Bajaj is different in that even when a product is doing reasonably well, they will stop it if it's not performing upto their expectations.

well i would like to add here since hh and bajaj are the leaders well in the coming years wait and watch honda will take both of them one by one. They r smart people well its just that they dont know India too well.

I really doubt that, they are here now for more than a decade. No doubt they got the money & technology to become no. 1, but that's not so easy with strong local competition. One of the reasons Honda succeeded around the world is that they really didn't face any good competition apart from their own i.e. Yamaha, Suzuki & Kawasaki. But, here in India TVS & Bajaj are learning the tricks of trade pretty quickly and soon Hero Moto will join them. Strong local competition is always difficult to deal with.

Yes Honda are very smart... Just too smart to treat the Indian market and consumers like shit... They think we will never realise that they treat us like crap... Be it cars or bikes... But they are wrong...

The final straw for me against Honda was when I visited Turkey recently for a months trip... And in one whole month where I spanned most of the country I saw only 15 Honda Cars and not 1 bike...!!! Just 1 honda city and 6-8 Civics, 1 Accord and a few Jazz's... I saw innumerable BMW, Ducati and Yamaha bikes... But not 1 honda bike... Upon peaking to a fellow biker ther I realised that Honda is considered to be a poor mans Ducati in most of Europe... Excep for the Blade... The legendary Blade is respected everywhere....


As a life long Honda fan (recently turned hater within the last 3-5 years, I would say that India is a place where Honda can kick every companies backside with a good thump if and ONLY IF they take us seriously... The only company that can kick Honda's arse in India is Bajaj... TVS will always be the weird guy who made that great product but was always the underdog...

Hey boy, looks like you got offended when I quoted the best selling 100 cc engine platform (or maybe from Hero Honda's line up) in the world as an example. Here are some other examples which might calm down your nerves and probably help you open your eyes a little wider.

People (literate or illiterate) look at brands and not products or variants in isolation.

For example:

[1] It is Maruti Alto (largest selling car brand in India) that is at the top of their mind. Whether its the 800 cc Alto or the 1000 cc Alto K10, comes at the second level of awareness (or confusion)

[2] It's the Huyndai i10 that is on top of minds. The 1.1 IRDE or the 1.2L Kappa comes (or confuses) at the second level




In case of Hero Honda as you have rightly pointed out, its Splendor (whether it be Plus or Pro) or Passion (Plus, Pro whatever).

Similarly my dear friend for Bajaj, its just Platina and Discover.. Whether it's a 100,125 or 150 comes at the second level.




Actually the number of "brands" that one has to remember for Hero Honda is a long one compared to Bajaj Auto:

Hero Honda: CD Dawn, CD Deluxe, Splendor, Splendor NXG, Passion, Glamour, Super Splendor, CBZ Xtreme, Hunk, Achiever, Karizma, Pleasure

Bajaj: Pulsar, Discover, Boxer (soon to come) are the main brands which they would focus (according to Mr. Bajaj)

Avenger with no direct competition is a unique offering which do not need any push. Platina to me should be axed to make the brand line up even simpler.. but then it has been around for about 6 years now and covers the basic entry level category.


Quality, reliability and offering good value for money (and exciting products) is a must to be at the top.

Being an Indian I would rather see Indians on top.

Answers in bold.

If the "aam aadmi" walks to the showroom to find out about the different "cubic capacity versions" or "different graphically/cosmetically styled version", which are basically nothing but "Different Price Points"..

..mission is accomplised by that brand (and the marketing team).

Fine, then its upto the "aam aadmi" to decide to go for it or not (or maybe file a court case demanding an explanation as to why the older models were discontinued).

So..??

Yes, and they have learnt their lesson well to keep it short and simple.

>> Pulsar, Discover, Boxer (main focus brands)

>> Avenger (sitting pretty with no direct competition)

>> and Platina (should be discontinued according to me)


Yep, it is simple and elegant.

Just 2 brands "Pulsar" & "Discover" and yet you can cover almost the entire market. It also cuts down hugely on marketing expenses.

@ Fast ferocious,
come on, don't be so childish. How can it confuse the customers if they don't exist. Out of your list P200,D135 and XCD125/135 are no longer there. Payeng is talking about the present situation.

And about brands; I've studied this part in marketing and it's obvious that brands make a heavy impression,but I don't think you will understand it.

Anyway you can have your two cents.Good luck.

P.S. I guess the sirens of Xpolice are not far away.

@payeng Well, like you said, you have your point of view and I have mine.

I feel BAL must focus more on quality than on dividing and multiplying cubic capacities.


Yeah, brands do make an impact and that is the reason why bajaj is taking full advantage of its discover and pulsar brands. It is only because of the previous trust of these brands that people try out new launches, probably the only way for them to sell.

Focus on quality: You think that has not happened? Or maybe you "would like to believe" that that never happens. By the way that applies to the likes of the Honda CBR250R too.

Multiplying Cubic Capacity: Please don't stop going upwards. More is never enough.

It may have happened, but not to the level of the competition.
Maybe it applies to Honda CBR and other bikes too, but in case of bajaj, it has to make a significant impression to the public. For that, they have to do better.


They multiply and then divide too, which hurts

"I enjoy the quality", whose tagline was it anyway..??


Cool.. don't ever buy one. Also do your best to prevent others from buying one too.

Honda's . But if you read the thread topic, it says Bajaj skids, not Honda or any other company. Maybe honda's quality is even worse. But they're selling 'enough'. We here are talking about the decline in growth of BAL sales. especially the commuter segment. Why are you so keen on dragging in the Japanese bike makers when I'm not at all interested. Let's stick to the topic and analyze it.

Why shouldn't I? I will if I find ANY of their products worth purchasing. That is the reason why I have a Ninja250R and a Pulsar 180 in my garage. And to calm you down, I never owned a Honda.

My dear boy, its you who dragged me into this.. with a rude quote.


Please do carry on..