From the world’s first CNG motorcycle to Ola finding themselves in hot water, 2024 has been filled with highs and lows.
2024 was an exciting year for two-wheelers with whole new segments being created and existing segments getting bigger. This year saw a whole host of launches from various manufacturers and exciting announcements for things to come. Here’s a quick summary of the highlights from this year in no specific order.
Two by three
Surge is a startup that is wholly owned by Hero MotoCorp and it has spent the last few years working on a modular EV platform that it calls the S32. What makes it world-first is that it’s designed to quickly and conveniently convert between a two-wheeler and a three-wheeler. Now close to production ready, it essentially comprises a rickshaw without a front wheel, into which an e-scooter slots and the scooter can be used on its own as well. Surge and Hero have worked with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to create a new registration category for the S32 called ‘L2 -5’. The S32 will enter series production this year and sources say the company sees a modest potential of 10,000 units per annum, and the model may be ready for a market launch by mid-2025.
Freedom to choose
In a stagnant commuter motorcycle market that doesn’t stray from the path, Bajaj injected a breath of fresh air with the Freedom CNG bike. This ground-up new platform has been developed with the intention of reducing people’s running costs in half, a claim we verified to be true when we tested it. The Freedom packs in a CNG cylinder that holds 2 kilos of gas under the seat and it also has an auxiliary 2 litre petrol tank.
The new 125cc ‘sloper’ engine has been developed specifically to run on CNG, with the bike’s ECU switching to petrol ever so often, for a brief period of time. At its launch, the bike was priced between Rs 95,000 – Rs 1.10 lakh but late last year, Bajaj reduced the price of the base and middle variants by Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively. This makes the Freedom priced on par with or lower than comparable 125cc rivals.
OLA faces the heat
Ola Electric has faced multiple mounting issues for the past few months. Alongside drastic drops in sales figures, spiralling service issues and falling share prices, the company had also received a show cause notice from the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA). This was issued over nearly ten thousand customer complaints registered with the CCPA over multiple categories, including delays in providing service, delays in deliveries of new vehicles and promised services not being provided. While the actual number of customer issues was likely vastly higher, Ola soon stated that it had addressed 99.1 percent of these issues. Nevertheless, despite strong discounting, Ola looks set to lose its top position in the EV market as of the writing of this piece in the last week of December.
Big names go green
Royal Enfield and Honda both showed their electric offerings in the final months of 2024. RE has set up a new division called Flying Flea for its EV operations, which showed two products – the C6 roadster and the S6 scrambler. Ex-Ducati alum Mario Alvisi leads Flying Flea, and both the bikes will be made in India, with a market launch slated for mid-2026.
Honda too debuted two new EVs for the Indian market – Activa e: and QC1. The former is based on the CUV e: sold abroad, which means it gets two 1.5kWh removable battery packs, but these can only be recharged at Honda’s battery-swapping network. As a result of the batteries being located under the seat, the Activa e: has negligible boot space. The QC1 is a much simpler offering with a 1.5kWh battery and a 50kph top speed but it has a 26-litre boot.
MotoGP India setback
2023 saw the successful execution of India’s first MotoGP race, but things didn’t go so well in 2024. The race was initially meant to be a part of the calendar in 2024 but was then cancelled and pushed forward to March 2025. Later in the year, the Indian GP was cancelled again, with organisers citing “operational circumstances” as the reason. This comes after Dorna signed a new three-year contract directly with the Uttar Pradesh government in July 2024, removing Fairstreet Sports from its role as promoter. However, it appears that organisers were unable to find a new promoter in time, resulting in the race now being pushed to 2026.
Localising globalisation
2024 was the year TVS made big strides both with its BMW partnership and with the British brand Norton, which it owns. EICMA 2024 saw the BMW F 450 GS concept debut a new 48hp parallel-twin engine, made by TVS. Expect this motor to trickle down to future TVS and BMW models. Coming to Norton, four years after TVS purchased it, we have learned that the company plans to launch 6 all-new motorcycles over the next three years, all of which will be made in India. The first of these will debut in 2025 and it will go on sale in India soon after its international launch. The new bikes will likely be more affordable than the current ones while still retaining the premium.
