Honda to exit geared scooter segment in India!

Hey guys!
Honda two wheelers India has announed that it will exit the geared scooter segment in India and phase out its 150cc model - Eterno as the company plans to focus on the gearless segment.
“We will stop producing Eterno. We will not stay in this segment (geared scooter). Eterno will be phased out,” HMSI President and CEO Shinji Aoyama said in New Delhi on the Launch of the new Activa.
The company would focus on gearless scooters in the future and with the launch of the new Activa, HMSI is looking at a total of 18 per cent growth in its two wheeler sales in the next fiscal, 2009-10.

Eterno was selling only about 40,000 units a year, which was very small, Aoyama said. The company didnt deny launching a substitute but added “We will surely compensate with a substitute, but at the moment the new Activa is enough to take the challenge as it will give 15 per cent increased mileage.”

oh thats not so good for gear scooters owner and new buyers, believe me is of the best gear scooter since bajaj failed against honda with eterno, and in gear scooters market honda was leading since couple of years, but against gearless scooters market growing up and comparision is not that great of both, yes it shows why company doesnt tend to continue gear scooters.

I read this news yesterday in newspaper. Really sad news. Eterno returns great FE but sadly didn't do well in our market. In fact many don't know about the availability of a geared Scooter named Eterno.

really, thats not the scene here CC, infact its one of the most sold scooters here and out of 10 scooters on road, 7 would be eterno here, its selling in good numbers here as its a 4 stroke 150cc geared scooter, stable and returns good FE.

But sadly vijay, i've seen only one Eterno so far and that too in the Honda Service Station.

there was a time here when deliveries were almost taken for 2 weeks, superb selling here and also for second hand markets as well.

Preferences of customers vary, can be clearly felt here. In Coimbatore, the era of geared Scooters ended with old Bajajs and other scooters available at that time. Even Honda didn't take booking of it, when we were buying Aviator some months back.

Era of Geared Scooter is Over :)

Why did they first try to launch this segment in India?

I don't like this move, because even GrandPa's have changed their mindset to Drive Activa's & Dio's..

So it is good atleast for me that geared scooters are moving out of india :)

Hey Zinam, how did Eterno perform in Chennai?
I was really shocked on its performance in Ahmedabad, as said by Vijay :affraid: .

Crazy cat wrote:But sadly vijay, i've seen only one Eterno so far and that too in the Honda Service Station.

What?Only one!Thats surprising, I've seen many eternos in the hardiwar(UP) region and here in delhi also you can spot few.

@vibhor, it performed very badly here. While buying Aviator, they said that they are not even take bookings of it. I thought this scenario is same all-over india. But i was wrong.