Sub-dealers make a killing on Unicorn deliveries

The Unicorn, launched by Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India in September 2004, is seeing a three-month waiting list for the kick-start variant and slightly smaller queue for the electric-start version.

According to some HMSI dealers and sub-dealers, the demand-supply mismatch is giving some sub-dealers a chance to make a killing.

These sub-dealers are offering customers the 'option' of paying between Rs 6,000 and Rs 9,000 'dealer premium' for delivery within four-five days. On a Rs 55,400 kick-start bike (on road Mumbai), the extra Rs 6,000 effectively means a 11 per cent premium, while the Rs 9.000 extra charge means a customer is coughing up a hefty 15.5 per cent premium on the Rs 58,200 electric-start bike.

A HMSI official, however, said, "HMSI is not aware of this 'dealer premium', we have received no complaints from any part of the country about this."

He also said that Unicorn has not enjoyed the kind of bookings that Honda's first product, Activa, did and the company has actually increased production of the bike, thus, reducing the all-India waiting period to 1.2 months on an average.

Dealer premium is a fairly popular international concept where a customer pays a good deal more than the listed price for instant possession.

These kickbacks are not completely unheard of in India either. According to industry watchers the Bajaj Pulsar commanded a slight premium in the first few months of its launch and so did the TVS Victor GX.