Bajaj to launch two bikes post Sept

Bajaj Auto is on course to launch two new products besides upgrading one existing bike during the second half of this fiscal. The CEO for two-wheeler business, S Sridhar, confirmed plans to launch two brand new motorcycles post September to DNA, but did not disclose any details. To a question on whether either of these launches would be in the entry level segment, he replied in the negative.

Vendor sources say Bajaj is developing a bike code named ‘Sprint’ which would be positioned in the 125 cc and above executive segment and is slated for launch in the December quarter. It seems this new bike would be given production preference over the existing XCD 135 cc, the only bike on XCD platform being manufactured by Bajaj for the domestic market.

“From what we have heard, the XCD 135 sales numbers are below expectations and only about 10,000 units of this bike are being produced. Bajaj wants the new Sprint to gradually replace the existing XCD 135 and its production plan talks of 15,000 units a month,” said a leading supplier.

Also, upgrades of the Pulsar and Discover marques are in the offing sometime during the second half of this fiscal. In fact, Bajaj Auto appears to be banking heavily on the brand equity of both these platforms to bring in robust sales growth this year.

Sridhar said the Discover platform (100 and 135 cc) bikes sold 65,000 units last month and he  is looking at 80,000 units each for September and October. Discover 100 cc — which brought Bajaj back into the 100 cc space after months  of assertions to the contrary —  sold 48,000 units in the first month of its launch.

The Pulsar platform — which supports three bikes of 150cc, 180cc and the new 220 cc — has virtually doubled sales to 60,000 units since last month, Sridhar said. Sridhar also claimed that the XCD 135 model is selling around 15,000 units a month and could go
up to 20,000 units during the peak festival season.

Sridhar said that given the “success” of each of the bike platforms, he expects combined sales across September and October to cross five lakh units. For August, the company reported sales of 1,82,441 bikes, a 4% increase over last year (1,75,274 units). Exports accounted for 75,164 units (71,105 units).