Made-in-India Bajaj Dominar headed to Australia

Bajaj Auto seems all set to begin Dominar 400 exports to Australia, a developed market that has a range of international motorcycle brands operating. So far, Bajaj has only been exporting the Dominar to emerging markets around the world including those in Latin America and South East Asia.

Exports are a key area of Bajaj’s focus for its flagship offering. By increasing exports, Bajaj hopes to hit the 10,000 units/month mark for he Dominar, which is not the most popular bike in its segment in India. Currently, the Dominar does less than 3,000 units/month in India. So, the gap for Bajaj to cover is quite large.

The bike features a 373 cc, triple spark-fuel injected, single cylinder engine derived from the KTM Duke 390’s motor. Compared to the Duke 390’s 43 Bhp-37 Nm, the Dominar’s engine makes about 34.5 Bhp-35 Nm.  6 gears are standard and while ABS is optional. The bike weighs a hefty 182 kilograms, and has a rated top speed of 148 Kph.

Front suspension consists of telescopic forks while the rear is a monoshock unit. In India, the non-ABS version starts from 1.41 lakh rupees while the ABS version is 14,000 rupees costlier, at 1.55 lakhs. The Dominar’s price represents good value as many bikes with much lesser power, and a fewer features are priced higher. This bike is sold as a sports tourer.

Meanwhile, Australia isn’t the only developed bike market that Bajaj plans to target with the Dominar. European countries are also on the Indian bike giant’s radar. Unlike Hero MotoCorp and Honda, Bajaj has chosen to focus on the premium motorcycle segment, which it believes will grow quite fast in the coming years.

Moreover, profit margins in the premium motorcycle space are fatter when compares to the wafer thin margins in the commuter motorcycle space. Bajaj owns nearly half of Austrian motorcycle maker KTM. It has recently tied up with Triumph to build and market high-end motorcycles. Bajaj will also begin building and selling Husqvarna motorcycles in India from 2018.

Via Auto.NDTV