The new bike -- Flame SR 125 -- would be an advanced version of its existing model Flame, which has single spark CCVTi engine. Meanwhile, sources said Flame SR 125 would be available in showrooms from next week.
Bajaj Auto, once known for its scooters which revolutionised the two-wheeler market in the country, on Wednesday said it will exit the segment by the end of the fiscal to focus exclusively on motorcycles. The company that by and large created the scooter market in the country through its popular 'Hamara Bajaj' campaigns in the 1980s and 90s, today sells just one scooter -- the 100-cc gearless Crystal.
Pulsar's new variant, to be unveiled next week, will retain the looks of a big bike, but the engine will be 135 cc. Bajaj Auto is launching yet another variant of Pulsar, its highest selling bike, next Wednesday.
Home-grown automotive players like Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda, TVS Motors and Maruti Suzuki are augmenting the use of plastics in engine components in an ambitious effort to reduce dependence on key metals like steel and aluminium, all of which have witnessed stupendous rise of 35-50 per cent in the past 5 months.
Low-base effect to kick in, but higher raw material prices could spoil the show.
Auto component companies -- especially the mid-size and small ones -- are facing an uphill task to stay afloat as banks have become tight-fisted in giving credit and vehicle makers are cutting orders to combat the slowdown in sales.
Bajaj Auto, the country's second largest two-wheeler manufacturer, may cut production as it sees a slowdown in motorcycle sales after the current festival season.
New participants included Chinese players such as Great Wall Motors and Haima Automobile along with Olectra.
Passenger vehicle wholesales in India rose by 14.16 per cent in August to 2,15,916 units, driven by pent-up demand, industry body SIAM said on Friday. According to the latest data by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, passenger vehicle wholesales stood at 1,89,129 units in the same month last year.
Say lower duties could enhance demand.
Pulsar 220, the fastest bike in India, faces a challenge from new models on speed & style.
Most probably, feel analysts, it would be in the 100-125cc segment. The new Discover 100cc with a DTSi engine, launched last month, is billed by the company as the world's most fuel-efficient motorcycle, with a certified 89 km to a litre of petrol.
Striking workers lacked support in the Pimpri-Chinchwad-Chakan belt.
Bajaj Auto has phased out the Pulsar 200 model to make way for the new Pulsar 220, as both were priced on a par, despite the latter being more powerful.
Bajaj Auto, the country's second-biggest maker of two-wheelers, says it will use its famed digital twin-spark plug technology in its compact car, due for launch in 2011.
In the years that the economy boomed and consumers had more money to spend, two-wheeler makers lured buyers with performance and presence. Now, the focus is back on fuel efficiency.
German insurance giant Allianz is planning to widen base in India with foray in banking business through its unit Dresdner Bank, besides expanding its existing non-banking financial services.
Bajaj family members are in the final stages of reaching a peace formula to their six-year-old dispute over the division of group companies and assets. Sources familiar with the developments said an announcement can be expected in the next 10 days, but did not want to divulge details.
The ultra low cost car (ULC), which will be competing with Tata Nano, aims to better the mileage of 23.6 km/lt, given by the world's cheapest car from the stable of Tata Motors.
Production of the 125 cc motorcycle has started in an assembly plant in China, putting the country's second-largest maker a step ahead of competitor Hero Honda, which is also working on a motorcycle reportedly between the Rs 17,000 and Rs 20,000 price point.
Over 800 gather for the India Economic Summit.
The likes of Microsoft and Cohesity have offered crore plus salaries to some students.
The Pulsar 200 AS and 150 AS have been positioned at the youth who want practicality on weekdays and the fun factor on weekends, writes Indian motoring website MotorBeam.
The Mumbai-based company will take on Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto and HMSI and will have models in the 100cc, 125cc and 150cc mobike segments, and also in the ungeared low and high-powered scooter segments. Hero Honda has a 60 per cent share of the motorcycle segment, while HMSI commands a 58 per cent of the scooter market. Anand Mahindra said: "Our two-wheeler project is complete; we have already begun marketing the fleet in Bangalore."
There could be some significant changes in motorcycles over the next few years says Shobhana Subramanian.
The world is full of family businesses that withered away with the passing of generations, creating much bitterness and ill will. Entire clans that used to be household names have become pale shadows of their once-mighty empires.
Keen competition will make the going tough even for market leaders in the segment.
Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh declared that the state has received approx Rs 20,000 FDI in the last 3 years.
But will this dilute Bajaj's strong Indian identity that straddled the rural-urban markets and the Hindi-English divide quite easily?
Even as a court case rages over the alleged intellectual property infringement, Chennai-based TVS Motor on Thursday launched its new 125-cc motorcycle, Flame, which rival Bajaj Auto says is based on its patented twin spark plug technology.
Leading industrialists met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (not in picture) in New Delhi on Thursday to discuss the general state of the Indian economy and other industry-related matters.
The Bajaj Auto management and its union on Friday came to the negotiating table in a bid to end the four-day-old strike by over 1,500 workers at the Chakan plant demanding wage revision and better working conditions apart from a hefty paring of the companies shares with employees.
The country's second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) on Monday joined hands with Renault-Nissan to launch a small car in India by 2011 that will compete with Tata Motors' Nano on price point - Rs 1 lakh.
Auto giant Bajaj Auto has landed in trouble for its "misleading and deceptive" advertisements as a consumer court has asked it to compensate a scooter owner who was lured into buying the vehicle due to the company's allegedly false claims on its mileage.Holding the auto-major guilty of causing "mental agony and harassment," Justice Kapoor directed the company to pay Rs 15,000 to New Delhi resident Karan Pal Singh, whose four-stroke scooter gave him an average of 34 km a litre
The fight between TVS and Bajaj might remain out of court, but TVS Motor's stand spoke of the company's resolve infused by its chairman Venu Srinivasan.
Several companies, including Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto, which are setting up units in Uttarakhand, want to buy more land amid reports that plots comprising an area of 300 acres are still lying vacant in the key industrial estates of Haridwar.
The duty for two-wheelers and small cars has been brought down to 12 per cent in the Budget proposals, a move, two-wheeler manufacturers feel, would lead to unfair competition. "The excise duty on two-wheelers and three-wheelers should be brought down to 8 per cent," Chairman of Bajaj Auto Rahul Bajaj said.
Higher input cost is likely to weigh on Auto sector's Q4 numbers.
'It is going to be a buyers' market and you will get a good number of companies at reasonable valuations and that's when one has to be very greedy.'
