The highlight for Bajaj Auto‘s Q2 performance has no doubt been the sales of Chetak- its electric scooter and Freedom- the CNG bike. Chetak e-scooter sales have tripled in 12 months and clocked around 18,933 units in September. Even the CNG-bike Freedom saw a brisk sales momentum with Bajaj Auto selling over 6000 units since its launch in July. Does that mean that Bajaj is planning to introduce an electric motorcycle soon? Well, the two-wheeler major doesn’t seem to be in a hurry. Though concept work is underway, there isn’t any date in consideration yet.
Responding to a question, by Financial Express.com, on the company’s plans on launching an electric bike, Dinesh Thapar – CFO, Bajaj Auto ruled out any, “in the immediate future. I think much of the emphasis at this point of time is to really continue to build portfolio competitiveness on the electric scooter space and, of course, on the electric three-wheeler space. So clearly widening of those portfolios. But there is conception work, which is happening on electric motorcycles, but I think that that will see light of day clearly much later on, nothing definitive at this point.”
Legacy players playing catch up
The higher share of EVs in the current sales and quarterly performance isn’t something unique to Bajaj Auto. Many of the other traditional ICE two-wheeler biggies like Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motors have also seen similar trends.
Also Read M3M Group clears Rs 2,473 cr debt, signals strong financial health Asian Paints, JK Tyres, Balkrishna Industries and other paint and tyre stocks plunge as conflict continues in Middle East Gold loans by banks, NBFCs to reach Rs 15 trillion by March 2027; banks remain dominant on jewellery-backed agriculture loans IIFL Finance to make strong comeback, brokerages confident about company regaining market share
Also ReadMahindra Scorpio Classic Boss Edition — What’s different?
Speaking on the way the conventional players are catching up with the EV start-ups in the two-wheeler space, Thapar highlighted that, “if you look at just how the market has evolved in the past few years, nearly 80% of the market is held by the top four players. Two of the big legacy players that traditionally manufactured only ICE two-wheelers have come back in a big way and really garnered market share.
» Read More
