Off the beaten track

Take a ride on an ATV, or invest in one, if you’ve got a thing for toys bigger and meaner than a bike, recommends Aabhas Sharma. And you can even use these in your farmhouse!

Like any other tourist, when Ashish Bahl went for a vacation to New Zealand two years ago, he came back impressed with several things. What fascinated him the most, however, was the All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs). Back home in New Delhi, he tried to get his hands on one from a local dealer who imported these from China but found, in his own words, that the vehicle was “a piece of trash”. It was then that he decided to take up the task of bringing these mean machines into the country himself. It was the genesis of Adventure Wheels.

Today, Bahl is one of the few dealers in ATVs in the country, a segment whose popularity is fast catching on with the young and the young-at-heart interested in sports, or then, again, in merely having an interesting form of locomotion around their farmhouses! But Bahl is not the only one to have decided to capitalise on this passion for off-roaders in the country.

Polaris, one of the world’s biggest brands when it comes to ATVs, has also set shop in India — through Trans Asia Distribution. And it is gungho about the potential of the market in the country. According to Anjali Sharma, business development manager, Trans Asia Distribution, the company offers ATVs starting from 50cc going up to 850cc. Sharma, herself an avid ATV rider, believes that the target audience is not restricted to people who consider themselves to be adventure sports lovers or biking enthusiasts. Instead, she says, that ATVs can appeal to the entire age group of eight to 80-year-olds! “It’s a myth that only people who are keen on bikes love ATVs. These are machines that will appeal to just about anyone,” says Sharma, confidently.

On the other hand, before you decide to venture out to buy one, do remember, that an ATV is basically a vehicle that looks deceptively easy to handle but is, in fact, pretty difficult to maneuver. It requires a lot of skill and physical coordination to ride it, and is, thus, not strictly an impulse buy — certainly not at these prices!

Adventure Wheels offers ATVs that start from 50cc and go up to 500cc. The 50cc ATV is meant for kids and pre-teens and are quite popular in the country, says Bahl, even if they are priced at Rs 65,000. Compared to ATVs meant for adults, these are relatively easier to handle, and come with a set of safety features as well suited to their target audience. Polaris ATVs, on the other hand, are more expensive, starting from Rs 2.5 lakh (for a basic 50cc) and going up to Rs 13 lakh for the 850cc machines.

As of now, Bahl says, it is difficult to pinpoint the most popular ATV in his stable, but he feels that vehicles for kids form a segment with the maximum potential. Other ATVs that are currently popular are from a high-end range called TGB, imported from Taiwan, costing around Rs 5.5 lakh. However, a basic 150cc ATV in this range is priced around Rs 1.5 lakh and is comparatively easy to ride.

Polaris offers a wide range of ATVs, starting from two-wheel drives to six-wheel ones with manual as well as automatic transmissions. For instance, the Scrambler 500 series, a sports ATV, has a four-wheel drive with electric transmission. It is priced around Rs 5 lakh.

Polaris is targetting its utility range of ATVs at people who own factories or farmhouses as well as those who are in the defence services. Sharma believes that these vehicles can be pretty useful in day-to-day work in some of these sectors.

Bahl, however, believes that the market for ATVs, at the moment, is niche and will continue to be so for the next few years. “When you think of spending at least Rs 70,000 on something your kid wants to ride, it is an expensive product,” he points out. Sharma, on the other hand, is confident that the market will pick up and is in the process of ramping up the company’s dealership. She believes that there is a lot of potential and that the demand for ATVs will rise significantly in the next few years in India.

Polaris is trying a variety of ways to promote the segment, including organising ATV safaris and rallies and even offering these machines on rent. The rental plan has found quite a few takers, especially among those who can’t afford to buy one. An hour’s ride on one of these machines will cost you Rs 1,000.

Bahl, on the other hand, is in the process of setting up a track specially designed for ATVs in Delhi. This is expected to come up at Adventure Island, an amusement park in the city, and he is confident that once people are more aware of these mean machines, the demand for them will certainly rise.

Watch this space.