Ola Electric is making a renewed push into the electric motorcycle market with aggressive pricing and in-house battery manufacturing, aiming to replicate its earlier success in electric scooters while addressing past quality and service issues.
Bajaj Auto is set to launch new Pulsar motorcycles in the 125cc and 150-250cc segments in Q2 FY27, aiming to capitalise on the upcoming festival season surge. This move follows strong growth in the 150cc-plus segment, where refreshed Pulsar models already account for over 50 per cent of Bajaj's sales.
Bajaj Auto reported a significant increase in its consolidated Q4FY26 performance, with profit after tax more than doubling to approximately 3,662 crore, a 103 per cent year-on-year rise, primarily driven by record volumes, an improved product mix, and the strategic consolidation of Bajaj Auto International Holdings AG (BAIHAG).
Escalating geopolitical tensions in West Asia are beginning to disrupt India's automotive supply chain, leading to rising commodity prices, logistics bottlenecks, material shortages, and pressure on consumer demand, with two-wheeler makers already raising prices.
Two-wheeler (2W) major Bajaj Auto on Friday posted its highest ever quarterly revenue and profit during the third quarter of 2025-26 (Q3FY26). Bajaj Auto's consolidated net profit for the quarter grew by 25 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 2,749 crore, with the revenue also growing 23 per cent to Rs 16,204 crore.
The stock of automative major Eicher Motors hit its all-time high on Wednesday, capping the year with gains of about 52.7 per cent. It has comfortably outperformed its sector index, the Nifty Auto, which jumped 22.7 per cent, as well as the benchmark Nifty, which rose 10 per cent during this period.
However, while Splendor's annual sales surged 31.7 per cent to 3.638 million units between 2019 and 2024, Hero's other models suffered sharp drops.
Bajaj Auto is gearing up to launch clean-energy vehicles including another motorcycle powered by compressed natural gas (CNG), showcase ethanol-powered motorcycles and three-wheelers next month, as well as launch a new Chetak platform early next year, as it closes in on hitting 100,000 monthly sales from clean-energy vehicles this festival season. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj said these initiatives were part of the firm's broader goal to achieve monthly sales of 100,000 clean-energy vehicles this festival season.
Yamaha expects its first EVs to hit showrooms by the last quarter of FY26 (January - March), once network readiness is complete.
The Freedom 125 has sold 8,310 units in October to date. This is its highest since it was launched in July and may touch close to 9,000 by the end of the month.
Given the stronger rural activity, and potential goods and services tax (GST) impact, investors are bullish on the two-wheeler (2W) segment. In August, dealers in the domestic market picked up 11 per cent more 2Ws year-on-year (Y-o-Y), despite only 2 per cent growth in retail registrations. This indicates inventory stocking ahead of the festival season. Export trends were good. TVS Motor and Royal Enfield may have gained domestic market share.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) on Wednesday forayed into the fast-growing domestic electric mobility market with the introduction of e-scooters, ACTIVA e: and QC1, with swappable and fixed batteries. With this, the Japanese two-wheeler maker will now be competing with other legacy players such as Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, TVS Group as well as pure EV players like Ather and Ola, who already have a good presence in the segment, which is growing at 34 per cent year-on-year.
Bajaj Pulsar RS 200 finally arrives; Price starts at Rs 1.18 lakh
The Pune-based company sells the Platina and CT brands in the entry-level - 100-110cc - segment.
Can Bhavish Aggarwal upend the electric two-wheeler market, which is now overwhelmingly in favour of scooters?
Auto majors Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra reported robust sales in September as reduced price tags owing to GST rationalisation led to record demand in the Navaratri period. The month also saw Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra settling at number two and three positions, respectively in vehicle wholesales ahead of Hyundai Motor India.
Bajaj Auto has become the top player in India's electric vehicle market by monthly volumes, across all categories, with over 25,000 sales and registrations in September. This comes on the back of a big push in expanding distribution by the company and steady demand of electric three-wheelers. In September, the company - according to the latest Vahan data - recorded sales of 17,570 electric two-wheelers, 4,575 three-wheelers, and 3,000 Yulu low-speed electric bikes (based on company sales numbers), which do not require a licence and are not registered on Vahan.
Bajaj Auto on Wednesday claimed its entry-level bike Discover has displaced Splendor of rival Hero MotoCorp as the largest selling motorcycle in the world based on sales in September.
Leading automakers Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mahindra, and Tata Motors saw a dip in dispatches to dealers in August amid dip in demand with many prospective buyers postponing their buys anticipating a reduction in vehicle prices on account of the new GST framework. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India reported an 8 per cent year-on-year dip in dispatches of passenger vehicles in the domestic market last month.
Bajaj Auto's market capitalisation (market cap) hit Rs 2 trillion mark for the first time. The stock of the two and three-wheeler major rallied 6 per cent to hit a new high of Rs 7,420 on the BSE in Tuesday's (January 9) intraday trade after its board approved Rs 4,000 crore share buyback at Rs 10,000 per share. The stock ended the day at Rs 7,093.75, up 1.55 per cent and its market cap a shade above Rs 2 trillion.
Bajaj Auto, the king of the market for CNG-powered passenger three-wheelers, now wants to replicate this dominance in two-wheelers. The difference is that while the former is zooming - registrations for CNG-powered passenger three-wheelers nearly doubled during January-December 2023 - the latter, meaning a market for CNG-powered two-wheelers, does not exist.
The maker of Pulsar and Discover reported a net profit of Rs 1,138.20 crore in the second quarter, compared to Rs 1,402.42 crore a year ago.
He is survived by two sons, Rajiv Bajaj and Sanjiv Bajaj, and a daughter Sunaina Kejriwal.
Pilot project in Bengaluru; Snapdeal got into the category last month
But will this dilute Bajaj's strong Indian identity that straddled the rural-urban markets and the Hindi-English divide quite easily?
Rahul Bajaj, one of the most successful business leaders in the country, has finally decided to hang his boots at Bajaj Auto, the company he nurtured and steered to one of the leading firms in two and three-wheeler space. The non-executive chairman of the Pune-based two and three-wheeler maker has tendered his resignation which would come into effect from close of business hours on April 30, 2021, Bajaj Auto said in a regulatory filing. In place of Rahul Bajaj, the company has appointed Niraj Bajaj as chairman with effect from May 1, 2021, it added.
'Rahul inspired Indian industry with an ethos, an ethos of being more confident, more independent, more thorough, more competitive, more generous, more public-spirited, and more national and more international all at once,' remembers Naushad Forbes.
However, Enfield said Bajaj was celebrating too early.
Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI), the country's second-largest two-wheeler manufacturer, is planning to launch its first electric vehicle (EV) here by March next year, said CEO & MD Atsushi Ogata on Monday. The company would also enter the low-end motorcycle market in March by launching a 100cc engine bike at a price that will "positively shock" customers, he said while speaking with reporters, after launching the Activa with Honda Smart Key. HMSI's first EV, an electric scooter, will have a fixed battery and the second model will have two swappable batteries, Ogata explained.
Royal Enfield's sales are equivalent to the global sales of Harley-Davidson, KTM, BMW, Triumph, and Ducati combined, but Bajaj's MD has a counterview.
The BSA Gold Star is launched....Ola Enters e-motorbikes Biz... Bajaj, TVS To Enter e2Ws Market...
As a 75-year-old septuagenarian, Bajaj Auto has adapted itself as a nod to competition, regulations, and changing buyer preference. It will continue to do so, said its managing director Rajiv Bajaj at the launch of the all-new Pulsar 250. This was in response to a question on the company's preparedness for disruption by electric two-wheeler start-ups.
The Pune-based two- and three-wheeler maker will roll out the 150-cc bike, christened 'V', on February 1
For the first time, the event will take place across three locations in Delhi: Bharat Mandapam at Pragati Maidan, Yashobhoomi Convention Centre at Dwarka, and India Expo Mart at Greater Noida.
The two-wheeler segment has shown signs of recovery in the first half (H1) of calendar year (CY) 2024, largely driven by improving performance in rural areas. According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations, rural contribution to two-wheeler sales surged by 57-60 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2024-25, indicating a rising demand in these regions. Experts believe that this trend will continue, supported by a favourable monsoon season and government initiatives aimed at rural development.
Enfield enjoys almost the entire 250-350 cc motorcycle market in country
Hero MotoCorp, India's largest two-wheeler maker, has seen a decline in its market share in rural areas since 2018, losing ground to major competitors such as TVS Motor Company, Bajaj Auto, and Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI), according to data from JATO Dynamics reviewed by Business Standard. Hero's share of rural two-wheeler sales in India has dropped from 40.4 per cent in 2018 to 33.3 per cent in 2023. In contrast, Bajaj's share increased from 12.7 per cent in 2018 to 13.9 per cent, HMSI's from 21.8 per cent to 22.2 per cent, and TVS' from 15.5 per cent to 17.8 per cent. Suzuki Motorcycle India has also seen its share rise from 1.7 per cent to 2.5 per cent.
'I suggest Rahul Bajaj come out in the open and give us his own white paper on the perceived sense of fear that he thinks haunts corporate India,' says Dr Sudhir Bisht.
Rajiv Bajaj talks about his de-risking strategy, as well as his company's much-speculated relationship with Renault-Nissan
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