LML makes a mark in lifestyle slot
Life in the fast lane is an oft-used and abused phrase that connotes a lifestyle filled with speed, adventure and dangerous curves. It has now been picked up by two-wheeler giant LML to market its new 150-cc bike for GenNext, its first foray into the lifestyle biking segment.
Life in the fast lane is an oft-used and abused phrase that connotes a lifestyle filled with speed, adventure and dangerous curves. It has now been picked up by two-wheeler giant LML to market its new 150-cc bike for GenNext, its first foray into the lifestyle biking segment.
To bring forth the brand values of funk, fun and youth, at the launch at The Oberoi on Wednesday, LML recreated a hang-out zone comprising restaurants, music stores and book shops with a bunch of 20-somethings breaking into a dance, after a snazzy audio-visual.
Still, what on earth does ‘Graptor’ mean? “It is just a name. Sometimes names are invented simply to draw attention,” says LML Limited managing director Deepak Singhania, even as he poses for photos astride the new bike meant to fuel LML’s foray into the lifestyle biking segment.
Sure, Mr Singhania? Isn’t it a take-off on the Cagiva Raptor? Even the headlamps seem to suggest so.
“Expected to increase at 20-25 per cent this year, it is the fastest growing segment in the Indian two-wheeler market after the deluxe commuter one. And LML is a brand that listens to the youth loud and clear. That is why the Freedom has been a runaway success as well,” says RD Jayal, executive director, corporate planning, LML Limited.
Some of the interesting features of the bike include a mileage of 79 kilometre an hour (under standard test conditions), 13.45 bhp, a torque of 12.8 Nm, disc brakes, five gears and a rigid chassis with a Delta-like frame that is a departure from the design of Freedom.
Building upon the reception for Freedom, LML’s first indigenous success, rated by the Wheels show on BBC as the best bike in the Rs 40,000-45,000 segment, the group expects to sell 280,000 bikes in an year, starting with October 2003 till September this year.
And what has Singhania set his sights on next? “A 125 CC motorcycle in May and a gearless scooter in the next two years.”