The Hindu Business Line : Hero Honda's Pleasure

WHILE other two-wheeler majors are moving to the bikes segment, Hero Honda has adopted a contrarian approach. With the launch of Pleasure, the company has made a foray into the scooters segment. And with this new roll-out, which targets the fairer sex, the company plans to garner about 10 per cent share of the scooter market.

Hero Honda has taken its strategy one step further by opening exclusive women's outlets called `Just4her'. The Pleasure's broad seats offer greater riding comfort.

The range of flashy colours (eight in all) suggests that its core customers would be young girls. Body coloured mirrors along with bright hues are a treat to the eye. Powered by a 102-cc engine, the scooter is placed alongside Honda's Dio, which also generates 7 bhp. The Pleasure can attain a respectable top speed of 77 kmph. At Rs 36,400 (ex-showroom New Delhi), the scooter is priced about 10 per cent higher than the Scooty Pep and about 4 per cent lower than the Dio.

Achiever's indicative price

Hero Honda has announced indicative prices for its new 150cc bike, Achiever. The bike will be available in eight hues (including maroon and purple). While the kick-start version of the bike with drum brakes costs Rs 48,200 (ex-showroom New Delhi), the one with disc brakes is Rs 50,900.

Uniform price for Cedia

Lancer Cedia, HM's new launch from its tie up with Mitsubishi Motors of Japan, carries a price tag of Rs 9.87 lakh. The price is uniformly applicable across the country. The `one price one country' concept was earlier experimented on the Lancer variants. The new pricing strategy brings in transparency, giving little scope for hidden charges. HM also plans to launch an SUV, Montero, by the end-June. Mitsubishi also plans to roll out a new version of the Pajero, the Outlander and Grandis in India through its partner. While the engine for the Cedia will be imported from Japan, the car will have 35 per cent indigenous content.

The car comes in two versions, Cedia and Cedia Sport. And both the versions will be available in six colours. A noticeable difference in the upgraded sedan is the front grill, which has been split by the Mitsubishi icon. Restyling has also been done on the headlamps, which bear resemblance to that of Ford's Fiesta.

Yamaha's new Crux

Yamaha Motor India has launched a new version of the Crux. The bike will continue to sport the 106-cc four-stroke engine and has been priced at Rs 30,990, cheaper by about Rs 2,000 than its earlier version. The new Crux, like the earlier version, will continue to cater to the economy segment.

The Gallardo roll-out

Lamborghini has announced the launch of Gallardo, among the largest selling model in its portfolio, in India. The car derives its name from a breed of fighting bulls. The coupé sports a 10-cylinder four-valve 4961-cc engine, which boasts of a humungous 500 hp. The sports car, an all-wheel drive, can touch a top speed of 309 kmph and zoom from 0-100 kmph in 4.2 seconds.

The Gallardo carries a price tag of Rs 1.5 crore. The Italian major plans to introduce other variants of the car. Gallardo Spyder, an open top version of the coupé, was launched at the Frankfurt Motor Show in Autumn 2005.

Alagappan Arunachalam

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