[Sarvodaya]

They launch the Goldwing at 39.00 lakhs when the BMW GT 1600 family is available for 32 lakhs. As others opined, Honda is happy selling the Activa and not interested in other segements.

[Samegoodkid]

I see Honda bashing yet again. The way I see it - CB300R is 37k cheaper. Go grab it!

[Arjun992]

Can we write a letter to honda japan? As a community is it possible for us to do something like a letter with collective signatures or something? Anything? Its really sad and irritating to see what they offer and morover how they offer in India. A mediocre product like cb300f at that price? (Just an example)

[RMN]

Originally Posted by Samegoodkid

I see Honda bashing yet again.

Which is a good thing. Hopefully HONDA will realize their mistakes and correct it.

Originally Posted by Samegoodkid

The way I see it - CB300R is 37k cheaper. Go grab it!

Doesn't help anyone who had bad experiences or continue to experience them with HONDA.

[pepega]

I have never seen any customers in the Honda BigWing near my city. Without customers, they might shut shop and then I'll have to travel 200+ km to get servicing/parts in a different city. The prospect of that happening will prevent me from ever purchasing a Honda BigWing motorcycle.

The idea of giving customers buying a premium motorcycle a premium experience falls rather shorts when your premium dealerships are suffering from a lack of volume and traffic. Same thing happened with the KTM showroom in the city and now I have to do a 150+ km round trip to get my Duke 390 serviced.

If I am buying a bigger motorcycle, I'll buy a Royal Enfield. Their showrooms are always packed and their bikes are the only ones I see on the road. Otherwise, I'd stick to car or a commuter motorcycle, or even better a scooter.

[Samegoodkid]

Originally Posted by RMN

Which is a good thing. Hopefully HONDA will realize their mistakes and correct it.


Doesn't help anyone who had bad experiences or continue to experience them with HONDA.

Absolutely. Criticism is welcome. Now that Honda has heard us ( at least with respect to CB300R), those who want the product can go grab it. The only issue with that product was price & with that fixed, here is an opportunity for all those who bashed Honda for high pricing of CB300R to go get it!

[Axe77]

Great thread CD. I hope that they suitably reflect on these missteps and going forward they price their products better right from the word go. Its better for a product to test the waters and then creep up in price if needed rather than face such downward revisions.

Of course, we're speaking of a brand that didn't even bother to launch its flagship ADV (the Africa Twin) for this entire calendar year. Doesn't inspire confidence as a customer at all when the brand doesn't show certainty and predictability in the continued sale of its line up.

[gearless]

In my experience, the Bigwing showroom did not feel premium at all in the first place. I went to a Bigwing showroom, but was disappointed that they had only the H'ness bike for display and test ride. I thought of checking out other bikes like the 300F and 300R, which I couldn't do. Also the response I got was nothing premium compared to the response I got in a regular Honda showroom when I went to look for Activa.

Anyway, I had shortlisted H'ness and had booked with them. The sales person was not very responsive, but still I went ahead with the booking. Even after 2.5 months there was no news from them on the delivery of H'ness which I found to be surprising as that is their only fast moving bike. Whenever I call the SA, it mostly went unanswered with a whatsapp response that he will update once the bike is ready.

Meanwhile, other bikes launched (you know which ones) and I finally ended up canceling the H'ness. Again there was no interest even to know why I am canceling.

I had so much hopes on Bigwing after being a satisfied Honda rider of my Unicorn, but the whole episode left me very disappointed.

[coolmel]

If samosas are selling like hot cakes, we don't need other snacks.

[rajshenoy]

I guess Honda India management was caught napping and this whole Bigwing idea seems like a half hearted strategy to launch a 350cc RE competitor and nothing else.

Future is electric, especially for the two wheeler segment so I don’t know why Honda is dumb enough not to unleash their beasts as eventually their activa segment will be the first to switch to electric.

Luckily most of these showrooms are owned by existing dealers so hopefully they will continue to support our Bigwing bikes.

Being a hness owner my biggest problem now is servicing, currently they are unable to scale and there is always a long queue for service.

[SaintAdventure]

IMO, Honda has stopped being good because they have abandoned their own philosophy. They were always the manufacturers who provided excellent products at a reasonable price. But right now, not even one of their products is class leading in anything. They used the Super Cub to break Harley's back in USA, and they drove one generation crazy with the CBZ and the next with the CBR.
At t his point, they survive because Indians buy more on the brand than the product, because sadly, the Activa isn't even the best scooter. It's just the default one. It's the engineering degree of scooters. In a time when all the big guns are making adventure bikes, HOnda has nothing. THe legendary brand which manufactures the CRF 300 has nothing to compete with in the offroading segment. It's not just them. ALl the Japanese brands are ona decline.Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki. Only Suzuki seems to be trying to do something, but they are so bad at promoting their products, and the service is so hit and miss that they are only getting moderate success.

I have seen videos about the glorious times when the Japanese manufacturers actually competed. I hate to live in the times when they've given up.

[tarmacnaut]

The BigWing is a one bike dealership, solely banking on CB350.

But for anyone looking at the Triumph Speed 400, this price cut is an excellent to opportunity to get the CB300R, it is just 2.4 lakhs now, just 7000 more than Speed 400 and much lesser than Scrambler 400X

Being a 300cc single it will be much smoother than Triumph's 400 and is also a whopping 30kgs lighter than the Speed 400. At this price, this is great value.

[Samarth 619]

A motorcycle lineup is like a pyramid.

The top stones are lesser in number, and they represent the high end products (visible to all as brand ambassador product but less sales)
The bottom stones are your 100-150cc bikes, they're more in number, but they support the entire ecosystem financially, the dealer network, the revenue from spares, etc.

Thus, every company in my opinion needs to have a base product (not necessarily a 100cc) and a top end product(not necessarily a litre inline-4). Many have failed because they didn't get a bottom end or top end product.

Honda on the other hand is lucky to have capable products ready on both ends. But lacking is the commitment, strong decision making & knowledge of the local situation. The following are the points with scope for improvement:-

1. From what I understand, the culture is missing. They need to have relationship managers at every dealership, and by this I don't mean a running salesman who's already busy to the brim. A dedicated guy who's preferably a biker too.

They actually brought in a 350cc~ bike without the culture, to compete against a Royal Enfield.
When Bigwing launched earlier, situation was not the same. People used to get circuit training, experienced instructors/ mentors, dyno testing, simulators, etc. But this is again a 2010~ thing, a thing of past.

2. Service Quality and Spares availability is something I've heard a lot about, in all segments. Hands on experience during a personalised training is a must for mechanics.

3. Pricing is something they can work on, although I find myself ok with the pricing, provided that the experience is good.


And once again, I recommend that at least the Japanese companies should unite for a common multibrand dealership, which is like a market for all such bikes and a common place for their service, with certain protocols in place. Without this, we're not looking at reasonable high3/4-digit regular sales for any premium bike.
But considering we'll be forced to go the EV route within some years, I'm not sure it'll ever happen.

[sac23]

It makes no sense on how Japanese motorcycle manufacturers work in India. They don't bother much other than selling scooters.

I remember in 2013 that some people from Yamaha Japan came to our college campus parking (Jain University, Bangalore) with some Yamaha India staff for a survey. They interviewed me and I told them on their face that who would want to buy a Yamaha when they only sell FZ and R15 (back in 2013) and people wanted bigger bikes like the 390 from Yamaha. The Japanese guy got so embarrassed and he made some sort of Japanese expressions to reflect my disappointment on Yamaha. I was riding my FZ that time and I told them that I am loyal to the brand and would definitely buy a bigger bike if they launch one. Incidentally they launched the R3 in 2015 for Rs. 3.25L without ABS and upside down forks. I later went on to buy a Duke 390 later for 2.85 on road back in 2017. It at all the R3 had ABS, I would have definitely got it. It was such a we-don't-care-about-your-life move from Yamaha. It failed miserably back when they launched RD350 decades ago with drum brakes on the front in India for cost saving and the bike got the name Yamadoot. They learnt nothing from it. Sigh.

Honda had a perfect bike for India for a decade. Their CB500R would have been a huge hit here, but they never brought it here. The CBR250RR (2 cylinder) was also a dream bike for many in India.


Instead, they chose to milk the blood out of CBR 250. In the end, I still remember how they struggled to sell it off during BS3 phase off. They were offering a free Navi scooter with a CBR250.


Suzuki launched their GSX750 which was a flop and most of the motorcycle community doesn't even know of it. Had they launched the faired GSXR750, it would have become one of the most sold big bike in India. But, I have to hand it to Suzuki for the Hayabusa. It's the only big bike in India which I feel like you get what you pay for.

Kawasaki is the only Jap with an array of models but none of them seems to be interesting except Ninja 1000 and ZX10r.

And then there is the OG, Yamaha which stopped selling R1, MT-01 and MT-09. Yamaha not selling the mighty R6 in India was a stab in the heart of Indian motorcycling community. They are planning to launch the new R3, MT-07 and R7 in India for a long time now.
I pity these companies that they don't even bother to set up manufacturing plants for big bikes in the largest motorcycle market in the world, India with 40% of global motorcycle sales.

[TheM0nk]

It makes no sense on how Japanese motorcycle manufacturers work in India. They don't bother much other than selling scooters.

Japanese manufactures are the biggest sellers in India actually. Kawasaki has a whopping 42% share followed by others. Honda were placed 2nd last year in sales thanks to the CBR twins. This year they didnt bother selling any in India . No Logic whatsoever.

I pity these companies that they don't even bother to set up manufacturing plants for big bikes in the largest motorcycle market in the world, India with 40% of global motorcycle sales.

One answer. Required volumes. Most companies are selling in double and triple digits. You can find all the info in this thread.

https://www.team-bhp.com/news/2022-a...ed-motorcycles