The popularity of scooters in India is affecting the bike sales and the major player is Honda Activa. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India recently claimed that its most popular gearless scooter Activa has crossed 1 crore unit milestone since it was launched first in the year 2001. It is the top selling 2-wheeler since last few years and it holds 59 percent market share in the segment. In the year 2001 Honda was able to sell only 55,000 units of this model but in a span of 3 years it became the market leader. All this means that 1 out of every 125 Indians have Activa. There are presently 3 models available in the market – Activa 3G, Activa 125, Activa i with engine capacity between 109cc to 125cc.
In July 2015 Activa became the highest selling 2 wheeler in India which was long being held by Hero Splendor. Another milestone that was reached by Honda is that it sold 2.5 lakh units in a single month. Bajaj Auto which was the market leader till 2009 stopped there scooter sales in 2009 which left only one player in the market. I am sure Bajaj might be regretting its decision big time as it is far behind than Hero in Motorcycle segment and was not able to hold its top position tightly for Scooters.
Activa is primarily targeted for women, middle aged men as it is convenient and easy to drive for shor distance commute. The looks, riding comfort, power and automatic gears made this bike instant success with this group. Few years back nobody would have thought that a scooter could be highest selling 2-wheeler in India but Honda was able to achieve it.
The bike maker was always on its toes and never took their market dominance for granted. Over the years they introduced many features that was able to win people’s heart like automatic gears, Honda Eco Technology(HET) that enhanced the mileage by big numbers, tubeless tyres, metal body and combined braking system to name a few.
The nearest competition for it is Hero Maestro which sells less than 1/6th+ units. All major bike manufacturers like Yamaha, Suzuki, TVS, Hero Motocorp are trying hard to make a dent into its sales but till date no one is able to crack its market share.
Here are top Activa models with their brief specifications –
| Model | Engine | Power | Torque | Price(Ex-Mumbai) |
| Activa-i | 109cc | 8 bhp @ 7500 rpm | 9 Nm @ 5500 rpm | Rs. 49,853 |
| Activa 3G | 109cc | 8 bhp @ 7500 rpm | 9 Nm @ 5500 rpm | Rs. 52,888 |
| Activa 125 | 124cc | 8.6 bhp @ 6500 rpm | 10.1 Nm @ 5500 rpm | Rs. 59,472 |