Bajaj Auto on Monday unleashed a price war in the 150cc motorcycles segment with the launch of its new Discover priced at Rs 46,000 ex-showroom, Delhi), which will be cheaper by at least Rs 6,000 from competitors.
In a little over six months, Bajaj, the country's second biggest two-wheeler maker, has sold over 500 units of the Kawasaki Ninja 250R, price Rs 2.69 lakh (the 269,000 same as a Maruti Suzuki Alto car).
The new Pulsar will be manufactured from the company's Chakan plant and will have a capacity of 35,000 units per month.
"As per the agreement, the design, engineering, sourcing and manufacturing will be handled by Bajaj Auto while marketing and selling will be by Renault-Nissan Alliance."
Tata Steel was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding over 2 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, SBI, Kotak Bank and Dr Reddy's. NSE Nifty dropped 151.75 points to 15,727.90.
Among the Sensex stocks, Tata Motors emerged as the top gainer, rising by 7 per cent. Yes Bank, ICICI Bank, Vedanta Ltd and Tata Steel were among the gainers.
On the Sensex chart, Yes Bank was the worst hit with 7.81 per cent decline. It was followed by Tata Steel, Vedanta, M&M, IndusInd Bank and Tata Motors -- shedding as much as 5.07 per cent.
Anticipating a robust demand during the festive season, the company is targeting to sell over five lakh motorcycles in the next two months
Equity benchmark Sensex rallied 487 points on Monday to close at a fresh lifetime peak, tracking gains in Infosys, HDFC twins and HCL Tech amid massive foreign fund inflows.
Aamir Khan has bought himself a humble V15 which has been marketed very well by Bajaj Auto, says Indian automobile website MotorBeam.com
However, notable absentees from the expo will be Honda, Toyota, Ford, BMW, Audi, Lexus, Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover along with two-wheeler majors Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor Co.
In September, sales of 125cc models - that include the Hero Glamour, Splendor, Pulsar 125, Victor Star City, among others - grew by a whopping 30 per cent over the same period a year ago to 305,615 units.
The biggest gainers on both bourses were Bharti Airtel, HDFC duo, L&T, Bajaj Auto, Kotak Bank, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, ITC and Bajaj Finance, rising up to 4 per cent.
To jointly manufacture complex and powerful engines soon.
The company, which saw a sharp dip in sales last financial year, seems to be coming out of the slump. It is selling more than 250,000 motorcycles a month (including exports). This is a huge jump from the 110,000-unit figure almost a year ago. The jump in sales has resulted in the two-wheeler manufacturer facing a capacity shortage.
Major gainers in the Sensex pack were Hero Motocorp, which rallied 7.01 per cent, followed by Bharti Airtel (6.69 per cent), Yes Bank (5.30 per cent), Adani Ports (4.90 per cent), Tata Steel (3.75 per cent) and Bajaj Auto (3.70 per cent).
Bangalore-based Reva Electric Car Company, two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors are finalising plans to launch electric vehicles in Europe and the US to take advantage of subsidies these countries are offering as part of their environmental agendas.
'Bajaj is proceeding as before to implement this project and any financial or other constraints that Renault-Nissan may have will have no bearing on the ability of Bajaj to implement this project,' Bajaj Auto Ltd Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said in a statement. He, however, did not elaborate on what kind of financial constraints Renault-Nissan is facing while carrying out the project.
The company is also ramping up production at its Pantnagar facility, where it enjoys a 10-year tax holiday, and expects to achieve full capacity utilisation in the next five-six months. BAL has three plants with a total installed production capacity of 2.2 lakh units a month, while on an average it produces 1.6 lakh units.
Hero Honda, the country's largest and most valuable two-wheeler company, said it logged sales of 370,575 two-wheelers in April, up 29.5 per cent from April 2008.
Austrian two-wheeler maker KTM Power Sports is developing three intra-city transportation models - a trike, a budget car and a scooter - in a joint collaboration with Bajaj Auto. Bajaj, India's second-largest motorcycle maker, owns 21 per cent stake in KTM.
In addition to new launches and restructuring across product segments, festival demand also aided growth.
While the Nano is priced at Rs 1.12 lakh, Bajaj Auto's RE petrol variant costs about Rs 90,000, while its diesel variant is pegged at Rs 1.2 lakh. Analysts also say Bajaj can drop prices without any problem. "Bajaj Auto has been in the three-wheeler segment for 60 years. Which means their plants are fully depreciated and they can afford to lower the prices, which other manufacturers can't do," says a top executive from a competing three-wheeler brand.
ONGC was the top loser in the Sensex pack, cracking over 16 per cent, followed by Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, Tata Steel, TCS, SBI, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Auto.
Top gainers in the Sensex pack included SBI, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Kotak Bank, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, Infosys and TCS, rising up to 2.31 per cent.
A day before the settlement of the six-year-old Bajaj family dispute, the Bombay High Court has asked Rahul Bajaj, the family patriarch and chairman of Bajaj Auto, to compensate the Pittie family, a minority shareholder in group investment firm Bachhraj & Company.
The Madras high court on Saturday restrained TVS Motor Company from manufacturing, marketing and selling its bike 'TVS Flame 125' in the ongoing patent infringement case with rival Bajaj Auto Limited.
The country's second largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Bajaj Auto, on Sunday said there was no case for any layoff in the company even though there has been a cut in production due to a slowdown in demand. According to the figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, motorcycle sales in the country during October was down by 18.17 per cent at 5,38,353 units, against 6,57,874 units in the same month a year ago.
Kotak Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding over 2 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank, PowerGrid, HDFC, IndusInd Bank and Axis Bank. NSE Nifty declined 45.75 points to 16,568.85.
The Chennai-based company is developing bikes in the range of 200cc and above to compete with Bajaj Auto's Pulsar range, which begins with the 150cc variant and ends with the 220cc model at the top of the ranks, sources, who declined to be identified, said.
Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Yes Bank, Maruti, L&T, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, SBI, ONGC, HDFC and Hero MotoCorp, rising up to 4.47 per cent.
TVS Motor Company on Monday re-launched Flame, a 125cc motorbike, with a single-spark plug ignition system. The move comes in the wake of the Madras High Court restraining the country's third largest two-wheeler maker from making and selling Flame for using the controversial twin-spark plug system.
The Pulsar 200 SS has been eagerly awaited and is bound to be a massive success among bike enthusiasts, says Faisal Ali Khan
ITC was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying 3.14 per cent. Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, Hero MotoCorp, Vedanta, Asian Paints, M&M, HUL, Bajaj Auto and PowerGrid were among the other top gainers, rising up to 2.13 per cent.
Japan's Kawasaki Motors plans to tap long-time partner Bajaj Auto's vendors for putting together its high-end motorcycles for the global market.
The Maharashtra government can do little beyond using its good offices to pursue the Bajaj Auto management to revive production at its mother plant in Akurdi, near Pune.
French automotive giant Renault and India's second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto has confirmed that they are holding talks for assessing 'very competitive vehicles' for the Indian market.
Leading carmakers Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata Motors reported robust dispatches to dealers in May on the back of strong demand for passenger vehicles across regions, even as the global semiconductor shortage continued to impact production. Mahindra & Mahindra, Kia India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Honda Cars and Skoda also witnessed strong demand for their models last month. The month of May also witnessed Tata Motors race ahead of Hyundai in terms of domestic wholesales.
According to industry sources, the company has contacted customers who bought the 125cc XCD to replace faulty electronic components for self start and head lamps along with a part of 'noisy' centre-stand.The company had last month launched the 125cc XCD, which it claims clubs features of a 150cc bike with the mileage of a 100cc motorcycle, at Rs 41,000 (ex-showroom).
Bajaj plans to double his share in the global market in three years.
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