Is it because they don’t have to repatriate as much money to their principal? After all the “chonda” design has been commoditized.

yes but we are not comparing high-end or any other up-market car with motorcycles.. the article is comparing the prices of very basic entry-level 4-wheeler and very basic 70cc 2-wheeler which have largely remained same throughout their lifespans. between 2005 and 2015 price of motorcycles increased by hardly 12/15 thousand but price of suzuki mehran got more than double, why? we know apart form a fuel injection module (introduced in 2012) nothing was added in Mehran and that doesn’t justify a 210% increase in its price. Simiarly when Alto was introduced in 2019, the price difference between the base Alto VX and 70cc Chonda (Chinese Honda) was Rs 1.1 million, which ballooned to Rs 2.1 million in just 3.5 years, why? Even when Alto has remained literally unchanged.

even if we replace M ]]> https://carspiritpk.com/astronomical-difference-in-2-wheeler-and-4-wheeler-prices/#comment-15944 Sun, 28 Jan 2024 06:35:21 +0000 https://carspiritpk.com/?p=79948#comment-15944 tl;dr: Cars have become expensive due to new technologies, while the motorcycle design is stagnant. Mototcycle manuf. can introduce tech upgrades to their products which will make them more expensive but more value-for-money, and also reduce the gap between car & bike.

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The article discusses the price gap in numerical figures but does not make a deeper statistical analysis viz. the %age difference, means & deviations. Probably much the audience can’t understand it either so there is no benefit in pulverizing the data like a research paper.

I’ll propose an entirely different paradigm of viewing things.

While cars go through a generation change in 5-8 years in other countries, for us the cars make a multi-generation leap after a few decades, skipping a few generations in the middle. The process isn’t smooth, but it gives the consumer at least something.
Even if the cars are becoming more expensive, the customer gets the added benefit in other ways. A better A/c means better comfort and better present-ability at wherever he/she is going. More comfortable ride means less bumps and low incidence of backbone problems later in the life – leading to fewer medical expenses. Lower fuel consumption means better for the health & environment and better on the pocket too. Better crash safety and better brakes means overall lower cost for the society on the personal emergency and disaster front.

But for motorcycles, one of the reasons it is so cheap is the “externalization of costs”. You buy a cheap motorcycle but end up paying more for fuel because it never got those technologies which has immensely helped reduce fuel consumption over the decades. The vehicle safety techs are missing hence you end paying up afterwards because of broken bones and fractures. Motorcycles have poor headlight and the first reason why so many more motorcycle accidents take place in the night when the driver can’t see speedbreakers, potholes and open manholes.

End: I propose that motorcycles be upgraded to bring the state-of-the-art of their road performance in parallel with the cars. This will make them more expensive, but will close the gap with cars. Any new techs will help with “cost internalization”. If the bike is more expensive due to EFI, it can effect savings of fuel and give a good return-on-investment. If it has 2-wheel disc brake with 2-channel ABS, it can then save on money & insurance which would otherwise be spent on traffic accidents. If it has a good LED projection headlight, it can enable better visibility and effect accident-avoidance, resulting in savings on medical expenses and avoiding loss of income down the line.

As to the counter-argument that motorcycles are already losing sales volume due to being expensive, my response is that you should look at the commercial success when companies have sold latest generation cars. Whenever companies have launched latest models, they have seen unprecedented sales regardless of the price. I’m totally sure that the same price-conscious customer who doesn’t want to pay 114,000 for the ancient design, will easily find it reasonable to pay 225,000 for a modern piece which can save him/her money in the long run.

The other article from 2020, linked within this article too, https://carspiritpk.com/difference-motorcycle-car-prices/ discusses localization as one of the reasons.

Well we can expect CS Pk web to further dissect the reasons in another article, since this website is the only media outlet which provides this absolutely critical service to our country.