Part of the Selfie generation

Indian Motorcycle? Heard of them? It is not in any way an “Indian” company It is a thoroughbred American company. The company has gone bankrupt in 1953 and in 2011, Polaris Industries (nothing to do with our Indian IT company) took over the company and it continues to market these iconic bikes. These are like Harley Davidson bikes, extremely heavy – in weight and also in price.

What is surprising is that our country, which is essentially a “hamara Bajaj” kind of market has evolved. Today, India is a huge market for these super expensive bikes, where the beginning range is from Rs.22 lakh. Recently, Indian Motorcycles held a Press Conference in India and someone stood up and asked the management a very logical question, “A Harley Sportster comes at #8377;7 lakh; when are you guys going to price your bike at that affordable rate?” Rs.7 lakh for a bike is affordable? Which country are we really talking about?

Like America, India is unfortunately fast moving towards consumerism. Every buy is today driven by this need to ‘show’ rather than about practicality. Strangely, this new generation, which is buying SUVs and Harley’s is stated to be environmentally conscious so then how come they opt for these gas guzzlers? Or is being selectively ‘environmentally friendly’ also about creating an image, being ‘cool’.

Just as the automobile sector is a reflection of the economy, the buy and sell pattern of these bikes is also a reflection of the attitude of people. And today, we have thrown away economic and logical sense, purely ruled by the need to satisfy our senses. Indeed, we live in a ‘selfie’ generation.