Because when you talk of a family vehicle, a consumer has other options today, like the second-hand small car. The other is disposable incomes have risen and consumer finance is easily available. So a combination of these two factors is inducing people to go for four-wheelers. Motwani of Kinetic disagrees, saying that the income bracket of scooter buyers is still far lower than car buyers. And certainly, geared scooters form a huge base at the moment and still sell in large numbers.
Most marketers agree that it is unlike to completely vanish in the near future.
But as LML's Jayal points out, the traditional scooter segment needs to be reinforced with new features even though it will never grow as fast as motorcycles or scooterettes. If nothing is done it could vanish as a category in the next 10 years.