HomeBike NewsBajajBajaj Chetak Electric Scooter Launched In 20 Cities - 11 States

Bajaj Chetak Electric Scooter Launched In 20 Cities – 11 States

Bajaj Chetak Electric Scooter
Bajaj Chetak Electric Scooter

Chetak has quite a few USPs including steel body, IP67 water resistance, soft-touch switches and solid gear drive

After roughly two decades when Bajaj had made the shift from scooters to focus exclusively on motorcycles, the company re-entered the scooter segment with Chetak in 2020. At the time of its launch, Chetak electric scooter was offered only in Pune and Bengaluru. Since then, the company has continuously expanded Chetak’s presence in new states and cities.

Bajaj Chetak Electric Scooter – 20 cities covered

As of now, Chetak is available across 11 states. These include Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Daman & Diu, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal. Chetak is available in 20 cities. It includes Visakhapatnam, Mapusa, Surat, Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore, Hubli, Cochin, Kozhikode, Mumbai, Pune, Nasik, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

Now that the pandemic situation has started to ease, Bajaj will be working on Chetak’s expansion plans in a more aggressive manner. According to Rakesh Sharma, executive director at Bajaj Auto, there are plans to double Chetak’s network over the next few weeks. It seems doable since Bajaj is primarily utilizing its existing KTM dealerships for Chetak. Some cities do have exclusive experience centres for Chetak.

Established manufacturers like Bajaj have ready resources to make new products available across India at short notice. TVS also has this advantage, which it has been utilizing for its iQube electric scooter. TVS is also working proactively to make iQube available in more cities across the country.

Sales Last 12 MonthsChetakiQube
Feb-21150203
Mar-2190355
Apr-21508307
May-21310
Jun-21452639
Jul-21730540
Aug-21364649
Sep-21642766
Oct-21835395
Nov-21511699
Dec-217281,212
Jan-221,2681,529
Avg Per Month526608
Total6,3097,294

In comparison, newer companies have to take care of both production and expanding the dealer network. Everything has to be done from scratch essentially. In electric two-wheeler space, startups like Ather Energy, Okinawa, Ampere, Revolt, etc. have had to face such challenges.

Some startups like Ola Electric have taken a completely different approach, wherein the entire sales and after-sales process is managed online. Ola does not operate any dealerships, which can have significant advantages in terms of cost cutting and operations management. However, it remains to be seen if this radical approach to sales and distribution will continue to be beneficial with a larger customer base.

Startups lead

Even though established players like Bajaj and TVS have ready resources in terms of sales and distribution, it is startups that are leading in electric two-wheeler space. EVs from companies like Hero Electric, Okinawa, Ather, Ampere are currently ahead of Chetak and iQube in terms of sales. Several other startups including Ola Electric and Simple Energy will be fighting for the top slots in this space in coming months.

While Chetak is a well-equipped scooter, its high pricing makes it inaccessible to a significant percentage of EV buyers. With no indications of a price revision, it appears that Bajaj will continue to position Chetak as a premium lifestyle EV product. Playing the numbers game with Chetak may not be the company’s priority right now. It is possible that an entirely new, affordably priced mass market product could be launched in future.

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