Bet you?ve heard the names before: Yamaha YZF-R1, Honda CB1000R, Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R, Suzuki Hayabusa. Must have seen them on television vrooming across racetracks around the world. If you are lucky, even caught a glimpse of one of them. If they did pass you on the highway, they would be immaculately balanced on one wheel and occasionally on two. There is something about the way their motors roar?their legendary power-to-weight ratio can?t be ignored.

Bet you have stopped dead in your tracks.

Superbikes have arrived in India. According to industry estimates, around 200 superbikes were sold in Indian in calender 2008, the first year since the launch of the big machines by Yamaha, Ducati and Suzuki in India. Reports suggest, of the total, Yamaha logged 107 units, Ducati sold over 50 units, the rest went into the account of Suzuki. (All of them were imported as completely built units or CBU.)

All this while, as premium four-wheelers made a beeline for India and posted healthy growth year on year, the superbike segment was a bit of a non-starter. Till as recently as 2007, the government of India did not allow import of bikes over 800 cc. So superbikes remained the exclusive preserve of celebs.

Things are changing. Yamaha was the first off the mark with the 1,670-cc MT-01 and 1,000-cc YZF-R1, last year. Seeing the response Suzuki, Ducati and Honda followed. The Honda CB1000R is the cheapest imported model sold currently.

Sanjay Tripathi, department head, product planning and strategy, Yamaha India, a pro-biker and owner of a R1 himself, says, ?It is all about brand building and exposing the customers to the finest technology from Yamaha than a volume game.?

He adds, while the market for superbikes in India is small, consumer response to its products have been is overwhelming. All perked up, he suggests that India will go the Europe way and see world superbikes crowing in. ?In the last 15 months, the company has managed to sell 120 units. We plan to get more models from our global portfolio into India,? says Pankaj Dubey, national business head, sales and marketing, Yamaha India.

Spotting the opportunity, Suzuki Motorcycle India (SMI) and Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) have launched their high-end bikes in the country. HMSI has two models?the CB1000R and the CBR1000RR. NK Rattan, head of sales and marketing, HMSI, says the company plans to sell at least 100 bikes in the first year. Equally gung-ho is SMI, which has the 1,348-cc Hayabusa and the 1,800-cc Intruder. Atul Gupta, vice-president, sales and marketing, SMI, says, ?We have sold 68 units since the launch of the two bikes and hope to touch 200 units by the year end.?

The Ferrari of bikes, Bologna (Italy)-based Ducati Motor Holding also announced its foray into the Indian market last year through its sole importer in the country, Precision Motor India. It plans to get the full range, priced between Rs 15 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, to India. ?Ducati will start formal operations later this year and expects to do over 200 units the first year,? said Ashish Chordia, chief executive, Precision Motor.

Thus, from two models in early 2008, India now has 10?two each from Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki and four from Ducati. These bikes start at Rs 10.50 lakh, going all the way up to Rs 50 lakh. In the main, they are sold as direct cash purchases rather than via financing. However, Chordia of Precision Motor indicates that there is also a growing demand for the financing option.

While these manufacturers are gung-ho about growth, the gray market, coupled with high customs duty of 105% on these bikes, remains a threat. There is an average difference of Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 lakh between the gray and white market price of a model. ?Through the illegal route, the bikes are imported in parts and many go for them as they can bill them as spare parts and pay a lower duty of 24%,? says an industry hand well-versed with the issue. According to data available with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, there are around 700 illegally imported bikes across India.

In a bid to discourage illegal imports, Yamaha plans to decline after-sales service to bikes bought through the illegal route. Dubey of Yamaha says, ?Traditionally the gray market has been large; now it is shrinking as manufacturers formally launch their bikes in India and customers see the benefit of buying it from us.?

Ashish Chordia, chief executive, Precision Motor, is more hopeful. ?The market is taking the official introduction positively and in the medium to long term, the official dealer networks will post the bigger volume of sales,? he says.

After-sales service is another bugbear. ?Service is one of the challenges we are facing. We cannot go ahead and open many dealerships and train a workforce when volumes are low,? says SMI?s Atul Gupta.

?Servicing a CBU is not everyone?s job and we are training specific dealerships to deal with it,? says Tripathi of Yamaha. Yamaha currently sells its superbikes through 15 dealerships in metros and plans to expand the network to non-metros. Honda has one dealership in New Delhi and will open one in Mumbai soon. SMI has seven. The largest chunk of the demand for superbikes is from cities such as Mumbai, New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Chandigarh.

The enthusiasm among people has also prompted the legendary Harley Davidson to look at India seriously and BMW, that exited the market a decade ago, to re-visit its India strategy. ?India has evolved from what it was 10 years back,? explains VG Ramakrishnan, director, automotive and transportation, Frost and Sullivan, South Asia and Middle East. ?Today the Indian customer is well-versed with the happenings around the world and the internet has narrowed the distance a fair bit.?

According to auto industry experts, the super bikes segment is expected to see a three-digit growth this year, albeit on a small base.