Vespa Obsession

For those of you who harbour the misconception that women were wary of gizmos, SUVs and motorbikes, think again. The woman is a serious consumer who'll surf the Net before plunging into a big buy. A 2005 study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India says that more and more Indian women have been using the Internet and 12.32 million online women users registered in the country during 2005-06, (up by 4%) against the last figure of 11.85 million.

Women are leading the surge in bikes market, which has lead to the gearless scooter segment as the second largest category in the two-wheeler industry. Industry estimates say that 60% buyers of gearless scooters are women. 4.8 lakh scooters are sold to women annually.

Hero Honda adopted an entirely women-oriented positioning for its first launch of Hero Honda Pleasure, a 100 cc gearless scooter. Bajaj Auto has also launched gearless scooter Kristal aimed at college girls. Says Sulajja Firodia Motwani, joint managing director, Kinetic: "The original Kinetic Honda revolutionised the two-wheeler market by providing a unisex product offering which was convenient for women. Now, we plan to offer a wide range of automatics which would have world class technology and features suitable for women."