Aoa. Recently Atlas went crazy with cd dream which was NO WAY an improvement to cd70 but rather a lollypop for all of us. and now the same thing is being repeated with cg125. the reason is why Atlas is doing this? and the answer is sales maximization. Honda has given Atlas a task to sell atleast 1 million bikes a year or else it will part ways, the same way Honda did with Hero in India. In order to try and do this Atlas asked Honda to shop micromanaging each and every change and promised to sell 1 million bikes if they are given more freedom. The result was cd dream and soon cg dream.
So what happens if Atlas fails? If it fails then say byw bye to Honda in Pakistan atleast for few years. Atlas is already branding all spares with 'Atlas'. The name Honda is already missing from company supplied genuine spare parts. In case the sales target is not achieved honda cg125 will soon become Atlas 125. Quality will reduce A LOT and the main reason is that from shocks to engine components, Atlas still uses a lot of imported Honda parts. With Honda gone these will go as well and result will be massive decrease in quality. Price would probably remain constant as in case of Yamaha Junoon vs DYL Junoon.
If Honda goes, then for time being, Suzuki will be the only Japanese company in Pakistan producing locally. So then we will have to see if Suzuki takes this opportunity and bring something better or, following the usual trend, decrease price even further.
Why bring 150cc and 500cc? These bikes are not brought by Atlas. They are here by Honda who wants to test that incase Atlas and they do part way, can Honda sell 150cc and maintain some market position? The reason why there is a wait of 3 months is because these will be imported on demand and also, Honda has given NO TRAINING to any Atlas mechanic on these two bikes. Their sole purpose is for Honda to retain its position by importing bikes if Atlas goes, till a time when they can start local production.
The simple cosmetic changes in cg dream and cd dream is just to attract more diverse buyers. It is a desperate attempt. Also, lately Honda is giving almost interest free bikes to govt. employees. Their latest scheme was for post office staff at Lahore GPO who were offered brand new cd70 for as low as rs.2000 per month with no down payment. Atlas is really vying for sales in order to save itself.
What should we do? well if you love Honda Atlas CG125 then do buy these bikes in order to help Atlas achieve its target. I would propose to boycott the sales of all bikes or atleast, postpone your purchases for a year. This would make Atlas go bust and hopefully bring out some change in the local bike market. Rest, I feel that it has now become inevitable that soon Honda and Atlas will part ways. I really pray that it happens so that we can close the whole cg and cd chapter and move on to cbr and newer bikes chapter.
Take care all.