- Bajaj to introduce new electric two-wheeler every year
- Wants to double Chetak sales
- Owns the entire IP for Chetak now
At the recent meet-up with media personnel, the president of Bajaj’s Urbanite division, Eric Vas, revealed the brand’s future aspirations related to electric two-wheelers. To start with, the company wants to be one of the world’s biggest electric two-wheeler brands which it sees happening in the next five to six years.
Another interesting plan revealed by the top honcho is that Bajaj will be launching one new electric two-wheeler every year over the next three to five years through its new entity, Chetak Technology Limited. This was also stated by Bajaj’s MD, Rajiv Bajaj, a few months back. As of now, there’s no confirmation on what type of models these will be but, we believe, a more affordable Chetak trim could be in the pipeline. Meanwhile, the company is also developing a short-range EV in association with the shared mobility brand Yulu.
The company also wants to double the sales of the electric scooter by the end of this financial year. At present, the average monthly sales of the Chetak stand at around 3,000 units, which the company aspires to double by the end of FY2022-23. Eric also mentioned that the global semiconductor supply shortage has been affecting the brand in terms of sales and production of the Chetak.
Talking about the production, all the components of Chetak e-scooters coming out of its factory since January 2022 are locally sourced, except for chips and battery cells. What’s more, Bajaj owns the entire IP (intellectual property) for the scooter. This was not the case with previous units of the Chetak which had a lot of components imported from foreign suppliers.
Bajaj Auto is also focusing on exporting the Chetak electric to international markets which will commence in the next few months. While the Chetak is pretty popular in India, unsurprisingly so considering the strong legacy the name holds in our country, it will interesting to see what kind of response the e-scooter receives overseas.
