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      APEAL study rankings for two wheelers released

      Roger Dsouza

      Roger Dsouza

      The recently released annual J.D Power Asia Pacific 2015 India 2-wheeler Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout Study, more commonly known as the APEAL, showed some unexpected differences in what drives the sales of a product in the country.

      The APEAL study has served as an industry benchmark for new 2-wheelers and the success and appeal a vehicle carries in the ever-growing Indian 2-wheeler market. The study measures a 2-wheeler based on many factors over the first 2 to 6 months of ownership. Vehicles are judged across 6 categories: seats, looks and styling, control switches/ locks, engine and transmission performance, fuel economy, and ride and handling and are classified into 2 categories, scooters and motorcycles. Scooters are further divided into two categories, namely economy and executive. Whereas, the motorcycles are categorized into five segments, the economy, executive, upper executive, premium and premium plus. Every vehicle is given an index score out of 1000 points.

      The APEAL study provides manufacturers with key information about customer expectations that lets the manufacturers work on and improve their vehicles. For the scooters, the category with the most impact are the seats (21%) and engine and transmission performance (20%) followed by comfort which is one of the important reasons for purchasing a scooter.

      APEAL study rankings for two wheelers released
      APEAL study rankings for two wheelers released

      For motorcycles, the ride-handling and fuel economy are most important factors for driver satisfaction especially in the economy segment. While in the premium segment bikes, the dominating reason is the engine and transmission performance followed by looks and styling.

      The age of the owners also vary across all the segments; for example, the median age of motorcycle owners in the economy segment is 29 while that in the premium segment is 24 years. The demographics also vary from segment to segment like 31% of premium motorcycles are owned by students while only 10% of economy motorbikes owners are students.

      The highest ranked bike in the economy model segment was the TVS sports with a score of 861 while Yamaha Ray won the executive model category with a score of 859. Honda CB unicorn and Yamaha FZ tied in the upper executive model segment with a score of 857 each. TVS Apache topped the premium bike segment with a score of 877.

      The APEAL study 2015 was conducted across 45 cities in the country and based on evaluation of 10,283 vehicle owners who purchased their 2-wheeler between March 2014 and October 2014.