Bajaj?s announcement that it plans to stop manufacturing scooters at the end of this financial year ends a long journey that began in 1961 when Bajaj Auto began producing two-wheelers after bagging the Indian licensee for the making of Vespa scooters. An affordable vehicle, the company managed to sell 1,00,000 vehicles in a single financial year in 1977-78.
In 1995, it rolled out its 10 millionth vehicle, and produced and sold 1 million vehicles in a year. ?You just can?t beat a Bajaj? was the company?s marketing slogan. Ironically, that was not to be, as it was beaten by the entry of Japanese and Italian scooter companies in the early 1980s.
In 2001, a year after Rajiv Bajaj started actively participating in the business, he saw the company lose its market leadership. However, he transformed Bajaj from a scooter manufacturer to a hi-tech motorcycle maker in a bid to tackle the huge challenge posed by the competition and to garner more market share.
He successfully did that and won the hearts of youth by producing motorcycles in the above-125 cc segment. The youth could identify with the Pulsar range of motorcycles, a brand students would die to show off while parking in the college compound.
Incidentally, Rajiv?s strategy to cash in on its popular brands is proving to be a fruitful measure for the company. In July this year, Bajaj chose the Discover brand to re-enter the 100cc space, ostensibly to leverage on the brand value, despite having an option of upgrading Platina, its existing offering in the 100cc space. Interestingly, the model is clocking decent numbers since August. This proves Rajiv right.
So what went wrong with Bajaj scooters? The company could not upgrade its scooters and match the styles and technology its rivals started to offer about 10 years ago. Its rivals like TVS, Suzuki, Honda and now Mahindra & Mahindra have proved very receptive to market unlike Bajaj. These companies will continue to introduce scooter models in the market.
But Rajiv Bajaj still begs to differ here. He wants to be a motorcycle specialist and so cannot make scooters.
rajat.guha@expressindia.com