Scooterwars: Honda And Yamaha Search For the New Front
Scooterwars: Honda And Yamaha Search For The New Front
ROUNDUP
DAVID EDWARDS
Grace Jones: “It’s easy.” Adam Ant: “I’ve never ridden one.”
Grace Jones: “It’s quick.” Adam Ant: “I don’t even drive.” Grace Jones: “It’s sexy.” Adam Ant: “I’ll take it.”
“It,” indeed, is easy, quick and sexy, and additionally is the object of a massive campaign to gain public approval and acceptance. “It” is the scooter. And whether you like it or hate it, at least two major motorcycle manufacturers are gambling that you’ll soon get used to it.
The stakes of that gamble are high, too. The above dialogue has occurred in almost every American home that has had a TV set turned on during television’s prime-time hours. Grace Jones and Adam Ant, two figures who represent the young, trend-conscious element in American society, are pictured in an American Honda commercial discussing the Elite motorscooter. That’s a very expensive discussion. The Honda commercial has aired both on network and pay television and while nobody at Honda will say exactly how much is being spent on the scooter market right now, the number surely rivals Honda’s TV advertising budget for motorcycles.
“The motorcycle market is shrinking,” Honda spokesmen say. “We have to do something to get people interested in the entire industry.” But while Honda would be happy to see scooters kindle interest in the entire two-wheel industry, the company isn’t counting on it. Scooter/motorcycle crossover has historically been low, so Honda expects scooters to pay for themselves, and isn’t relying on sales increases over the entire line as a result of scooter advertising.
The way Honda figures it, today there is a perfect opportunity to make scooters a fixture in the next generation’s social scene. Even though scooters have been around for decades, they’ve recently reemerged as a form of transportation and recreation. And true to capitalist ideals, Honda is hoping to cash in on this fashion craze by associating young personalities like Grace Jones, Adam Ant, Devo and Berlin with Honda scooters. After all, recent history has shown that today’s socially offbeat are likely to be tomorrow’s social mainstream.
Yamaha also is looking to the future of scooters. But the future that Yamaha sees is different from the one that Honda is pursuing. Yamaha's media campaign is aimed not so much at forming the standards of the next generation, but rather at changing those of present society. In fact, according to Yamaha surveys, scooters already are accepted by the over-thrity crowd. Yamaha’s Riva is pictured in ads with middle-class Americans having middle-class American good times. Yamaha is projecting an image of safe, clean-cut fun, a presentation that always has been difficult with motorcycles because of the stilllingering outlaw stigma. Scooters have a clean slate, free from the prejudices that affect motorcycling, according to Yamaha, and so the potential market for scooters has yet to find its boundaries.
Both Honda and Yamaha agree, though, that the public seems to view scooters as being safer than either motorcycles or mopeds because the rider's legs aren’t exposed on the outside of the vehicle. So a lot of buyers who wouldn’t consider purchasing any other kind of two-wheeler might very well purchase a scooter.
As for the future of scooters and their effect on the motorcycle market, no one quite knows. If the craze doesn’t simply blow over like the moped fad did, scooters could start competing with motorcycles for the same buyers, or they could help expand motorcycling’s boundaries. Nobody is saying. But either way, Honda and Yamaha both believe that scooters are going to be around for a while. Just as long as the public continues to see them as safe, easy and quick.
Oh yes—and sexy, too.
