No Immediate Return to scooters, says Rajiv Bajaj

NEW DELHI: The country's second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto today reiterated it will not make a comeback to the Indian scooter segment in immediate future as it aims a bigger share in the global motorcycle market.

"We are a motorcycle company... We will remain focused on motorcycles," Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said at an All India Management Association conference here.

He was replying to a query on reports quoting the company Chairman Rahul Bajaj that Bajaj Auto may consider re-entering into the scooter market.

"The world market for motorcycles is of 35 million units and Bajaj will end this fiscal by selling only 3.5 million units. We have a market share of 10 per cent, and so we have headroom for 90 per cent growth," Bajaj said.

In the April-January period this fiscal, the company sold 19,89,377 bikes in the domestic market as against 14,11,259 units in the same period last year, up 40.96 per cent.

Bajaj Auto's export during the period has also grown by 35.78 per cent to 8,36,617 units as against 6,16,135 units in the same period a year ago.

When asked why the company stopped production of its scooters, Bajaj said: "We did not phase out, but people stopped buying scooters."

In December 2009, the company had announced that it would stop making scooters by end of 2009-10 fiscal, thus bringing down the curtains on 'Hamara Bajaj', which revolutionised the two-wheeler market in the country.

However, since the auto major stopped making scooters, the segment has witnessed a significant growth, led by gearless scooters from Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, which is the market leader in the segment now.

In the April-January period this fiscal, the Indian scooter market has witnessed a growth of 46.57 per cent at 16,97,204 units as against 11,57,902 units in the comparable period last fiscal, as per Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Association (SIAM) data.

The Pune-based two-wheeler maker on the other hand is focusing on motorcycles, offering a range of models such as Discover, Pulsar and has even increased stake in Austrian bike maker KTM Power Sports AG to nearly 38.09 per cent as it looks to expand presence globally.

Bajaj Auto and KTM have been jointly developing products and the first of the co-developed products, KTM Duke 125, will hit European markets this year. The KTM models are supposed to be launched in India during the second half this year.