“We have the technology and we can rollout our models meeting the new emission norms in four months,” said Eric Vas, President (Motorcycle Business), Bajaj Auto, reacting to the news of the country planning to leapfrog to BS VI emission norms from 2020.

Vas said Bajaj is ready to adhere to any guideline. On the cost of change, he said, the expenditure to the company will be “negligible” as most of the work has to be done by vendors.

Talking to the media, he said Bajaj Auto will launch a completely new executive bike code named ‘X’ in this quarter, and unveil an entry-level variant this month.

“Brand X is currently under development, which will be launched in this quarter. It has taken us a lot of time to reposition the ‘Discover’ brand, and now that we have completed that exercise, we are looking at getting brand X off the ground,” said Vas.

The company is also working on “certain” more products in the executive space, which is priced between ₹45,000 and ₹60,000.

Bajaj Auto is also setting a target to sell 70,000 executive bikes a month in the next 18-24 months, nearly 3.5 times of the 20,000 units it sold a month last year.

While Vas confirmed Bajaj Auto will launch an entry-level variant this month, he declined to provide the details.

Stellar 2015 Meanwhile, the Pune-based company had a stellar 2015 with eight new launches in the country, maintaining its leadership position in the entry and premium bike segments in the country. Bajaj Auto has maintained its leadership position in the sports and entry-level segments even as the industry faced a daunting year.

The entry and sports segments together constitute 43 per cent of the industry and Bajaj is now the leader in this cluster with a 36 per cent market share.

In the entry segment, Bajaj Auto grew its market share from 23 per cent to 36 per cent in the first nine months of the financial year. During the November-December period, following the launch of the new Avengers, it got a market leadership of 53 per cent in the mass sports segment below ₹1 lakh.

“With the introduction of new products such as the CT100 and the new Platina, we strengthened our position in the entry-level segment. In the sports segment, we enhanced our leadership position through the launch of the Pulsar RS200, Pulsar AS 200 and 150 and the exciting Avenger Cruise 220 and Avenger Street 220 and 150," Vas added.

Bajaj Auto sold 6.81 lakh entry-level commuter motorcycles in the first nine months of the year, a 77 per cent rise from 3.83 lakh sold last year.

rajesh.kurup@thehindu.co.in

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