Bajaj Auto won't rejig new Boxer despite low volume

It was meant as a replacement for the Platina but Bajaj Auto’s re-launched ‘Bharat Bike – Boxer’ has failed to live up to expectations and break Hero MotoCorp’s stranglehold on rural markets. However, the country’s second largest bike manufacturer does not plan to revisit its rural offering yet even as it continues to search for ways to challenge Splendor - the country’s single largest bike brand.

“The Boxer was launched as a power commuting bike for rural areas. We are at present selling around 3,000 units a month. This is not enough but we will wait and watch. Our Pulsar too took almost a decade to take off,” said K Srinivas, president - motorcycle business at Bajaj Auto. When Bajaj launched the Pulsar as a sports bike, the 150-cc segment was barely 3 per cent of the bike market. Today the Pulsar is a power brand that has not only helped Bajaj tower over Japanese giant Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India but has allowed it to earn the highest profit margins of any auto company in the country.

The company claims its modular capacity means it can produce any quantity of the bikes in a cost effective manner but given the expectations of this model taking on the Munjals’ volume leader, analysts are a tad disappointed. “The company is trying to figure out the gaps and getting complete feedback from dealers, supply chain officials and customers before any attempt of repositioning,” said Yaresh Kothari, auto analyst at Angel Broking. Sales of Boxer 150 cc are almost down by 7,000 units per month in India as compared to the first two months after it’s September 2011 launch. The company repositioned Boxer 150 cc as a ‘Bharat Bike’ for customers in rural India who wanted more power for the price they pay.

In an effort to boost sales, the company is at present marketing the bike in 16,000 villages. The company is showcasing bikes through demo vans and allowing customers to experience it through test rides. “A 100 cc bike for rural markets would have been easy to do as this is what we sell overseas too. But we need to differentiate this in the market and that’s why we provided a solid 150 cc bike,” said Srinivas. According to him there are at least some customers in these markets who are interested in a rugged powerful bike but the question is how to expand this base of customers.

Dealers feel that the company’s limited marketing push and lower margins relative to its other 150cc bike Pulsar, clearly tips the balance in favour of the latter. “Customers who buy the bike are thrilled with its performance and utility and the price at which it is sold. When creating a new category it is tempting to try to fix something. But customers who are using it for five to six months now are happy with its performance and not unhappy with the mileage. So we are looking at up-scaling our seeding activity for the bike in villages further,” said Srinivas. Experts however point that the 150 cc Boxer comes with a lesser mileage than its previous 100 cc avatar.

Non-urban markets which, are the primary target for the Boxer account for between 55-60 per cent of total bike sales in India, the company estimates. According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), production of motorbikes/step-through mopeds rose 16.44 per cent in the nine months of financial year 2011-2012 to 90.4 lakh units.