Bike owners now sensitive about fuel consumption
The JD Power study also found that the greater emphasis on fuel economy can mostly be attributed to an increase in fuel prices.
Kolkata: Fuel economy has always been a crucial consideration in the affordable segment. And now with petrol prices soaring, it is gaining increasingly larger importance by the day, even for buyers of upper executive and premium motorcycles. At least that's what the J.D. Power 2019 India Two-Wheeler Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (2WAPEAL) StudySM, suggested. The study said that the owners of upper executive and premium motorcycles are now placing more importance on fuel economy when determining their product satisfaction.
"While fuel economy has always been an important driver of satisfaction for two-wheeler owners in India, motorcycle owners in the upper executive and premium segments have, in the past, typically attached relatively lower importance to it. However, with increasing expenditures on fuel, there is a heightened sensitivity to fuel mileage amongst owners in these segments, resulting in the change in drivers of product satisfaction," said Rajat Agarwal, Two-Wheeler Industry Expert at J.D. Power.
Among the factors, that the study measured, upper executive motorcycle owners have singled out fuel economy as the factor with the highest relative importance. The emphasis on fuel economy cited by this group of owners is highest amongst all two-wheeler segments. Besides, the relative importance assigned to this factor by premium motorcycle owners has increased to a level similar to those for other two-wheeler segments.
The JD Power study also found that the greater emphasis on fuel economy can mostly be attributed to an increase in fuel prices. While owners of upper executive and premium motorcycles this year obtained similar fuel mileage as the previous year, they reported an 18 per cent increase in monthly expenditure on fuel.
Interestingly, fuel economy underperformed especially amongst scooter owners. While fuel economy is the lowest-performing factor across all two-wheeler segments, satisfaction scores are the lowest in the two-wheeler segments.