Without elaborating much, Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto, told Economic Times in a recent interview that the company is come up with a new Pulsar model in June 2019. He said that Bajaj is going to do ‘something remarkable’ with CT, Platina and Pulsar brands this June.
According to Mr. Bajaj, the marketing and R&D department of the Pune-based two wheeler giant has come up with some really smart ideas for the new products. He said that there will be one newer product under each of the aforementioned three brands and each of them will have one new feature which customers would find attractive. He also stated that all the three products will be ‘very very innovative’.
As of now, it is anybody’s guess as to what Mr. Bajaj is implying but June is not far away. Bajaj is working on significant updates for the Pulsar family and the new Pulsar in June is expected to kick start an array of regular new launches that would extend into 2020.
The new generation models will comply with the upgraded safety and emission norms. Moving forward, we expect the Pulsar 135 LS and 180 to face the axe since they find themselves in awkward market positions. These two products would be replaced by newer ones that cater to mainstream and volume-rich segments.
While the two wheeler OEMs in India are struggling with market slow down and alarming levels of inventories at dealerships, Bajaj is the only player to increase its market share (by 8%) in motorcycle segment during these adverse conditions. While Mr. Bajaj said that nobody knows when will the slowdown stop he expects sales to be better in the March to June period owing to the marriage season. So, Bajaj has no plans to reduce production to keep the inventory levels in check. In fact, the company is planning to increase production to cope up with increased sales.
According to the head honcho, Bajaj Auto is not as dependent on the Indian two wheeler market as its primary rivals (Hero Motocorp and HMSI) since roughly 50% of its production is exported to 80-90 markets. Bajaj is inching closer to industry leader Hero Motocorp in terms of motorcycle market share.
