Bajaj Auto is likely re-think its scooter strategy and may re-enter the market with a new product. The iconic Chetak name might make a comeback too.
The makers of the legendary Chetak decided to exit the scooter market six years back. But now, it looks like it is time for the Managing Director of Bajaj, Rajiv Bajaj to consider re-entering the scooter market again. From April 2014 to January 2015, bike sales increased by just 4% to 9.11 million units but the scooter market has gone up by a massive 27% to 3.74 million units. Unfortunately for Bajaj, this trend seems to have started ever since they exited the scooter space and the introduction of new light weight automatic scooters into the market happened. Scooter sales account for 28% of India’s two-wheeler market, up from 16%.
One of the most famous scooters is the Honda Activa which sells around 2,00,000 units every month. This was one of the first scooters to kick start the new automatic scooter market along with the TVS Scooty. The success of these two vehicles made other manufacturers like Yamaha, Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra and Suzuki enter the market. The TVS Jupiter sells 30,000 units every month and the Suzuki Access is also doing well. Honda, Hero and TVS have all seen a 23%, 6% and 23% rise respectively this fiscal year. Meanwhile, Bajaj has seen a 14% drop in overall two-wheeler sales during the same period.
Hero MotoCorp, which currently has only two scooters in its lineup, has decided to advance scooter launches and delay the launch of a few motorcycles. It is expected to launch four more scooters within this fiscal. This includes a new hybrid model known as the Leap. There have been rumors about Bajaj developing a few new scooter prototypes which are being tested in their Research and Development centre in Pune. If these rumors are true, it looks like Bajaj will soon re-enter the scooter market and cash in on the boom.
Source – Business-Standard.com
