Scooters sales have gone through the roof in the past few years and have witnessed a double digit growth on regular basis while motorcycles have struggled. This doesn’t really come as a surprise.
They are easier to ride ( no need to engage gears manually) , nimble, have the benefit of under seat storage and are reasonably frugal as well. But almost 14 years back, automatic scooters were on the verge of extinction from our market. At this point, Honda commenced their Indian operations with the Activa against many word of warnings from industry experts who felt Honda was committing a grave mistake. But they couldn’t have been more wrong. The Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer currently sells almost 2 lakh units of the Activa every month and it currently holds close to 43 per cent market share.
Such has been its success that it can be dubbed as the genesis of the current automatic scooter market in India. Despite the fact that the Activa has been on sale for so many years it has received only three updates. And today we ride its latest iteration – the Honda Activa 3G.