Combining an innovative pro-biking
experiment with something even better,
Bajaj Auto on Monday unveiled its 220
cc motorcycle Pulsar DTS Fi model. The
launch came together with the opening
of its first probiking' showroom in
New Delhi.
The Pulsar DTS Fi model has been
priced at Rs 81,280 (ex-showroom
Delhi), said the company. The bike was
initially test marketed in Pune
earlier this year and dispatches for
the motorcycles have started for
all-India launch of the bike. The
Pulsar DTS Fi is the first bike in the
Indian market to have both front and
rear disc brakes. The new bike will be
made at Bajaj Auto's plant in
Aurangabad. The plant will make 50,000
units of the new bike a year.
The company expects that sales will
rise to more than 200,000 units a
month from October after the launch of
this new motorcycle. At the launch of
the new Pulsar DTS Fi, Bajaj Auto said
that motorcycle sales in the next two
months were expected to be flat and
would revive only in October after the
launch of a new model. The company had
sold 167,008 motorcycles in May 2007,
which was in fact a decline of 15 per
cent compared with the May 2006
figures. Bajaj had slashed motorcycle
output by around 30,000 units as
demand slowed due to high interest
rates, it said.
However, things are expected to
change. According to top officials,
bike sales would rise to more than
200,000 units a month starting this
October. Bajaj expects a 50 per cent
increase in exports in the fiscal
2007-08.
The newly-launched Bajaj probiking
showroom is the seventh one in the
country and is an exclusive dealer
shop to provide complete biking
experience to the customers.
So, what next? Bajaj has lined up
plans to develop a small four-wheel
commercial vehicle and a small car
too. The small car will be a high-tech
'experimental car', say the top brass.
The company described it as a Bajaj
Pulsar on four wheels.
Now what does that mean? We are quite
clueless. Why would a motorcycle
company create a high-tech,
experimental car that is a motorcycle
on four wheels? One, as a concept
design, to show off your engineering
and design skills and future vision.
Two, a motorcycle on four wheels is
usually called an ATV or Quad. Surely,
Bajaj is not planning to produce an
ATV for India, considering the legal
problems involved in getting an ATv
certified for on-road use? We suspect
it is the former, or Bajaj is
deliberately playing a misleading game
here to throw others off the track.
Guess we will have to wait and see.
