Rishad Cooper
Indian two-wheeler manufacturers have smacked the ball out of the park. From an inconspicuous start making only a handful of models after decades of Independence, now they play a key role globally, with more to come
In the eighties, you could count Indian bike and scooter manufacturers with all the models they offered on a pair of hands. Product life-cycles stretched decades and technology flowed in rationed by foreign partners. Veterans will remember the famous early names of Royal Enfield, Yezdi, Jawa, Bajaj and Lambretta. Then came many Japanese alliances, with Kinetic Honda, Ind-Suzuki, Hero Honda, Kawasaki Bajaj and Escorts Yamaha kick-starting another exciting and often two-stroke engine powered era.
By the turn of the century, Indian manufacturers started warming to a key reality that they had to build their own Research And Development (R&D), nurture in-house technology and tailor bikes and scooters to our individual needs. Circumstance played a catalyst, with public transport struggling to match the commuting requirements of a massive population across this sprawling nation. Aiding a burgeoning demand for practical bikes and scooters, that’s virtually unmatched anywhere on the planet.
Hamara Bajaj stepped up to play a leading role, their R&D team becoming amongst the first to shift away from Kawasaki dependence, as they made an arduous, independent climb up the learning curve, which in many ways came of age with launch of the blockbuster Pulsar 150 and 180 bikes, in 2001. This was just a few years after TVS parted ways with Suzuki, and earned a solid reputation too, as an all-Indian maker of top class, small capacity scooters. Meanwhile, Royal Enfield implemented changes that would eventually fructify in their grand resurrection as well, from a precarious low point. And some more Indian twowheeler players such as Mahindra signed up, to leave a proud Indian stamp in MotoGP history.
Hero MotoCorp was amongst the last Indian giants to go their own way, parting from Honda in 2014. Which brings us to the point today, where Indian manufacturers have achieved the seemingly impossible, taking on mighty Japanese rivals, often beating them and even buying into and creating new tech tie-ups with hallowed biking brands, including formidable names such as Harley Davidson, KTM, Husqvarna, Gas Gas, Triumph, BMW, Norton, BSA etc.
Such mammoth achievement has taken no more than about 20 years, making India the go-to location for small capacity bike and scooter manufacturing today. A singularly solid factor behind this success is
India’s unmatched ‘cost to quality’ equation, and the uncanny ability to achieve the impossible in terms of frugal engineering. Take for example the fact that many Indian 100 to 125cc bikes made to offer fuel efficiency, achieved excellent frugality relying on little other than finely tuned carburettor technology. So efficient proved many carb equipped commuter bikes, that they didn’t even require to shift to more expensive fuel-injection technology when this permeated our market, because they had already achieved nearly as good efficiency, without any added costs of a new tech.
A recent podcast we did with editor at large Adil Jal Darukhanawala and editor Sirish Chandran, however, brought to mind a wee chink in this impregnable armour. Almost all Indian-made bikes and scooters suffer from a case of obesity to some degree, and could shed some weight. Most Indian manufactured bikes or scooters today would benefit from a 10, no 15, even 20kg weight loss programme. There’s no doubt though, that improving this aspect too is only a matter of time, for the heavyweight Indian manufacturers.
All of which means there’s a lot to look forward to from these shores in the future too.