Bajaj Auto on Wednesday said its alliances with Kawasaki and KTM are going strong and the company will launch products from the KTM stable within a few months in India.
Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, Bajaj Auto, said, “In a productive way, Bajaj, Kawasaki and KTM can work together in the global market, especially on the front end.”
Already in Philippines, Bajaj sells its bikes which are assembled in the Kawasaki plant and retailed through Kawasaki outlets.
By doing this, Bajaj can make use of the strong distribution channel of its two partners globally and need not invest in setting up plants.
From the Kawasaki portfolio, Bajaj has brought the super-sports bike—Kawasaki Ninja 250R—to the Indian market.
The bike, which is being brought in a completely knocked down (CKD) form, will cost Rs2,69,970 ex-showroom Delhi.
Bajaj Auto is setting up a dedicated assembly line for Kawasaki Ninja, investments for which were not disclosed.
Eric Vas, president, new business, said the company has already assembled 60 Ninjas and plans to sell over 1,000 bikes within a year.
To give Kawasaki a jumpstart in the Indian market, Bajaj said, “We will increase the number of probiking showrooms from the 24 outlets in 22 cities to 30 by the next year.”
Bajaj will also bring in KTM bikes in a few months, which will be in CKD form in the case of bigger bikes (1000cc plus), and also manufacture small bikes for the mass sports-bike segment. These bikes are likely to be in the 125-250cc range.
On the company’s performance, Bajaj said, “The first quarter has been the best in Bajaj’s history and the second quarter will outdo it. We have been able to achieve this on the back of Discover 100cc which sold 50,000 units in August and 71,000 units in September. Of the total Discover brand, which sold 94,000 units last month, the major contribution has been from the new 100cc Discover.”
Bajaj is confident that with its strategy in place, it will be able to maintain robust numbers. “We did a mistake of being trying to be like someone else and by making smaller bikes. We missed the bus last year, but now we have our strategy in place.” He said, “In Q1, we achieved the Ebidta margins of 19.5% and will maintain the same in Q2 as well.”
On speculation that the company would replace M&M in the latter’s JV with Renault, Bajaj said, “We have not got any indication from Renault with regards to stepping in and moreover, we have no intentions of making a sedan with anyone, then be it M&M, Renault or Nissan.”
“We faced enough trouble by getting into the manufacturing of XCD and Caliber and now if we want to get into manufacturing a sedan, it will definitely hit us bad.” Bajaj is partnering with Renault in making the ultra low-cost car project.
Bajaj maintained that though it has branding issues with Renault, the project is progressing as per schedule to be launched in 2011.
