Rajiv Bajaj believes the recently launched Discover 150 has hit the sweet spot in the commuter segment. “The market response has been very good,” the Managing Director of Bajaj Auto told Business Line.
Dealers are equally upbeat with this new offering which was launched three weeks ago. Going by the present market momentum, Bajaj says the Discover 150 has the potential to clock around 25,000 units each month.
More importantly, this will help boost sales of its 100cc and 125cc siblings whose combined monthly numbers are about 70,000 units. The Discover 150 has been positioned as the mindshare brand which will draw customers to the showrooms. As a result, it will double up as the growth lever for Brand Discover which has been losing share in the commuter space.
With Hero MotoCorp’s Splendor and Passion motorcycles still going strong and Honda stepping on the gas for its enormously successful Activa scooter, Bajaj Auto has been under a lot of pressure lately. Its MD insists there is nothing wrong with the Discover and that it boils down to effective execution of strategy.
“In hindsight, we should have introduced the (Discover) 150 two years ago instead of waiting so long,” he says. This would have ensured that the company stayed true to its credo of being different in the commuter space. Instead, in (year) 2012, there were a host of other 125cc brands which perhaps did little to give the Discover a competitive edge.
This clearly was not the way forward for a rival to take on the more established Splendor and Passion. In fact, the core of the Discover brand was to be different since the time it was launched way back in 2004. “It was the first 125cc commuter bike at that time in the market and did good numbers,” Bajaj says.
Over the years, other competing models made their entry too and the Discover became part of a larger pie. It had also gone through different avatars since 2009 starting with the 100cc which played a big role in the company’s comeback script.
Bajaj recalls what marketing consultant, Jack Trout, says about a brand being either first, or different, in order to be successful. This was not a problem with the Pulsar where there was a first mover advantage in the sporty segment. On the other hand, the Discover was a challenger brand which was up against a host of well-established bikes.
Bajaj is confident the Discover 150 will be in a league of its own in the commuter space, at least for a few years longer. And, quite unlike the recent past where complacency perhaps set in, he plans to ensure that this competitive edge stays intact.