The Indian automobile market moves really fast in all aspects and the changing product portfolio of different companies is testimony to that. Since the Indian market is huge, there is time and space for a number of models but if a particular one does not do well, it gets chucked out pretty soon. Japanese bike maker Honda, according to reports, has gone ahead and removed the CBF Stunner model from its line-up despite it still featuring on the firm’s official website. The Honda Stunner CBF has never been able to live up to its billing despite looking like a promising model, which would have attracted buyers due to its style, sporty looks and half fairing.
Though the looks were never an issue, there was no substance to match this in terms of prowess. Industry experts feel that Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India pulled up short in seeing the potential demand of this bike, given that buyers of 125 cc motorcycles have never been too keen on the looks of a model, the only thing that they car e about being the mileage, price and to a certain extent the power levels. Keeping the mileage aside, even the performance of this bike, at 11 BHP of power and 11 Nm of torque, was not up to the scratch. The firm thought to solve things by launching an FI version of Honda CBF Stunner but discontinued it from the marketing owing to the poor response received.
Industry experts feel that the poor sales of this bike were caused mainly due to the pricing strategy of this bike, which was on the expensive side for this particular segment. Indian buyers’ demand for fuel efficient motorcycles, especially in the 125 cc segment, is quite obvious and the increased weight of this bike was one of the reasons why its fuel efficiency was a little less. To make things worse, Hero MotoCorp, the undisputed king of the Indian bike market, introduced the Ignitor to rival the Honda CBF Stunner, proving to be the last nail in its coffin. Considering the fact that anyone would choose Hero MotoCorp over Honda in the 125 cc segment, the defeat of Stunner to Ignitor was inevitable. Discontinuation of bikes has taken place earlier as well when Honda CB Dazzler was stopped by the firm due to it being a non performer. Dealerships across the country have stopped asking for units of this bike since there is no demand for it and now, it would be made only on order, meaning one can purchase Honda CBF Stunner but only on request.
