Bajaj Bike Sales Soar 56%

Two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto has achieved a 56 per cent growth in motorcycles sales during July to register sales of over 50,000 units in a single month. The company sold 51,145 units in July against 32,696 units during July 2000.

The growth in motorcycle sales is in contrast with sales of the company's other products -- geared and ungeared scooters , step-throughs and three-wheelers -- where it has registered a drop in sales.

While sales of geared scooters fell to 30,630 units (from 34,056 units in July 2000), ungeared scooter sales fell to 6,069 units (7,343 units) and step-throughs to 5,411 units (9,267 units). Three-wheelers sales dipped to 14,921 units from 15,913 units in the same month last year.

However, the company's total sales during July, at 1.08 lakh vehicles, was higher than the 99,279 units sold in July 2000, with the gain in motorcycle volumes making up for loss in the rest of the product categories.

Bajaj Auto, which sold an average 40,000 motorcycles during the first three months of the current quarter, has a sales target of 6 lakh units this fiscal. In the motorcycle segment, the company offers Boxer in the low-end segment, Caliber, Caliber Croma and Aspire in the mid-end segment, and the Eliminator in the high-end segment.

Meanwhile, the company is planning to raise the installed capacity for motorcycles by 25 per cent to 9.6 lakh units by the next fiscal, from 7.2 lakh units. This is primarily to cater to the higher demand expected for its motorcycles, following the launch of newer models during the fiscal.

Rajiv Bajaj, president, said, "By next year, we will expand our capacity to 80,000 motorcycles a month from the current 60,000 units a month. We will have to spend just a few crores of rupees to expand capacity to 75,000, it is not very expensive."