Bajaj Chetak electric scooter was launched in Bangalore and Pune at the beginning of the year amid much fan fare. The plan was to gradually expand to market coverage important cities across the country but things came to a grinding halt before they even took off.
For starters, with only one full month of sales in the aforementioned two cities, the country went into a lockdown thereby forcing Bajaj Auto to halt dispatches of its first electric scooter. In the months of April, May and June, not even a single Chetak left the factory but this had been the case for most vehicles in the country.
To make the matters worst, the border tension between India and China, compounded by pandemic-driven logistical bottlenecks, made sourcing certain critical components from China very tricky. This led to production constraints for the Bajaj Chetak and closing of bookings. However, the recent dispatch figures indicate that the company has more or less sorted its issues out.
Since July, the monthly sales figures of Bajaj Chetak have been showing steady growth. Last month, the neo-classic electric scooter managed to clock 288 units, its best ever monthly sales performance since its launch in January 2020. Bajaj will be hoping to continue the strong month-on-month growth throughout this festive season and even further.
| Month | Chetak | iQube |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 21 | 0 |
| Feb | 100 | 0 |
| Mar | 91 | 18 |
| Apr | 0 | 0 |
| May | 0 | 0 |
| Jun | 0 | 30 |
| Jul | 120 | 23 |
| Aug | 192 | 23 |
| Sep | 288 | 7 |
| Total | 812 | 101 |
In comparison, the TVS iQube electric scooter which was introduced a few days before the lockdown has been struggling even harder to settle into a rhythm. The scooter’s best monthly sales performance of 30 units came in June and it ended last month with a paltry tally of 7 units.
It looks like TVS is facing a significant production constraint rather than lack of demand. As of September 2020, 812 units of Bajaj Chetak EV were sold as against 101 units of TVS iQube.
Bajaj is gearing up to kick start the first phase of its market expansion during this quarter with Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakapatnam, Jaipur, Delhi and Goa the next destinations. In the foreseeable future, the Bajaj Chetak will be available in 30 cities across the country including the existing 2.
The market expansion is sure to bring in significant incremental sales but the pace of growth will be dictated by the two wheeler giant’s ability to ramp up its production. Next year, Bajaj Chetak will also spawn Husqvarna E01 electric scooter which will be made in India for global consumption.
This post was last modified on October 24, 2020 6:40 am