The Supreme Court directive
banning registration of BS III vehicles in the country from April 1, 2017 has
forced superbike manufacturers to offer huge discounts of 5 to 7 per cent,
apart from waiving off registration fees. This in essence means that superbike
dealerships are offering discounts ranging in from Rs 75,000 to Rs 2 to Rs 3 lakh
to clear their stock of BS III vehicles.
A few top end brands are also
facing another piquant situation—even if they manage to dispose of their
existing fleet of BS III superbikes, they have no BS IV motorcycle to adorn
their showrooms. “The new bikes will take at least a few months to come from
abroad during which time my showrooms will have no motorcycles,” a superbike
dealer said..
According to several superbike
dealers based out of various cities in the country and who spoke to Motown
India on condition of anonymity, mentioned that the top bosses of
leading Superbike companies got together in Delhi and Mumbai in an informal
meeting after the court announcement yesterday to chart a way forward in
selling their existing stock. The unanimously agreed to offer hefty discounts
besides waiving off the registration fees. The ones majorly affected include
the likes of Kawasaki, Suzuki, Ducati, Indian Motorcycles, Yamaha, Triumph, etc
while players like Harley-Davidson with a larger fleet of BS IV vehicles are
the least affected.
According to sources in
Hyderabad, a Yamaha dealer yesterday apparently sold four MT 09 and one R1
superbikes at a hefty discount. “It was a steal for the guys who bought these
bikes,” said the source. Hyderabad is one of the leading markets for superbikes
in the country. The stock of Yamaha R1
BS III motorcycles has been exhausted in the city. The bike which costs around
Rs 24 plus lakh, was being offered at around Rs 21.5 lakh. While discounts for
the R1 were in the range of Rs 2 to 4 lakh, that of MT09 was in the range of Rs
1 to Rs 2.5 lakh.
A Delhi-based dealer said that
he was in real trouble because his company had around a 100 BS III motorcycles
and his dealership alone had 40 superbikes, all BS III. “It is unlikely that I
will be able to sell my stock, which means that the unsold stock will either be
exported by my parent company to places like China or in the worst situation
stripped down as spare parts. The latter, of course, is not a viable
proposition,” he said voicing his concern.
RTO HASSLE: In cities like Delhi,
superbike dealers are facing another problem. Sources said that RTOs have
stopped registering the new superbikes because of the excessive load for
registration that has come their way post the Supreme Court decision. While mass market car and two wheeler dealers
can do self registration of the vehicle they sell, without having to visit the
RTO, the superbike dealers do not have such privilege. For them to register
their bikes, they have to individually take the bike to the RTO and get it
physically verified before the vehicle is registered.
“I was able to register only a
few of my bikes today with great difficulty because RTOs in Delhi refused to
register my bikes because of heavy work load at their end. I somehow cajoled them
into registering my bikes,” he said. But the dealer’s statement was refuted by
a senior RTO official whom Motown India contacted.
“The RTOs across the country
will be working overtime to clear registrations. It is like a clearance sale
happening. But no registration has stopped. The dealers are creating a panic.
When it comes to superbikes, we cannot register them without the necessary Type
Approval from the competent authorities. If that is missing we do not register
the vehicle,” the official said.