The largest vehicular segment in the country saw a number of launches and

unveilings across segments and price-points at this year's Auto Expo. One of the most heartening
aspects about Indian riders in recent times has been their willingness to experiment. It's a natural
phenomenon for a progressive society to look for options beyond those that serve necessity.
Indians are ambitious yet extremely value-conscious people, and there are numerous instances in
the last two decades, wherein we've caught up faster than expected, despite starting late. Being
the youngest country on the planet only means that this thought approach is bound to progress in
the coming years. Glancing through the numerous vehicles on display at the Expo, it was clear
that companies both local and global seem to have been understood this, and aren't afraid to
offer the customer with something that has never/ hardly been sold in the country.

Creating New Segments

A key positive was to see efforts made within India to create products with very few or no
parallels globally. A notable one, which caught our attention, was the Honda Navi, which
instantly reminded of the Bobby by Rajdoot. Although unlike the Bobby, which was a small
motorcycle, the Navi is part scooter, part motorcycle. This is the first product to have been
completely conceived, designed, developed and manufactured in India by Honda Motorcycle and
Scooter India (HMSI).

Adventure Motorcycles

Another interesting trend to note is the emergence of mass-market adventure motorcycles

a segment that has got barely any notable history in India. Yet Royal Enfield, the world's oldest
production motorcycle company, has chosen this segment for its first-ever ground-up motorcycle
since it began operations in India in the 1950s. For a company that's literally on a sales-roll, such
commitment of its largest technical effort ever for this segment speaks of the confidence that this
segment offers, at least on paper for now.

Unveiled a day before the Auto Expo was opened to the media, the Himalayan is a
motorcycle engineered to go off-road and isn't just a cosmetically enhanced look alike. The
Himalayan is powered by an all-new 410 cc engine, features a first-ever rear monoshock by the
company and doesn't share any part with the existing Royal Enfield motorcycles. Most things
then seem to be in order for the Himalayan going by first impressions. Unless Royal Enfield gets
the pricing wrong and that too by a significant margin, the Himalayan should do reasonably well.
Judging the Himalayan by sales, however, is missing the point entirely since the critical element
here is the success/ failure of the new technology to entice buyers. In order to fulfil its ambition
of being a global leader in middle-weight motorcycles, this is the real litmus test for Royal
Enfield and the Himalayan is just the first link in the chain for that.

Adventure motorcycles continued to make a pressing business-case for manufacturers in

the premium segment as well. Bringing the iconic Africa Twin brand back to life is the Honda
CRF 1000L Africa Twin all-terrain motorcycle. Powered by a new 998 cc parallel-twin engine,
the new motorcycle is a departure from the V-twin configuration of the older NXR 750-based
motorcycle. The engine develops about 93 hp and 98 Nm of torque, which sounds adequate yet
unintimidating. Unlike the past, where HMSI has been slow to react to the sub-500 cc segment,
the company has this time grabbed the opportunity in time. That the opportunity in this segment
exists has been well-proven by Triumph's Tiger 800 range. HMSI understands that potential well
enough for having decided to locally assemble the Africa Twin, making it the second CKD
model after the CBR 650F in an effort to offer competitive pricing in the premium segment.