Fill it, shut it, remember it

Bajaj, Hero Honda woo buyers with fuel efficiency

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.

Bajaj Auto will launch a 100cc bike, its first in this segment in more than three years, on July 18. Christened Discover 100, it will be priced between Rs 40,000 and Rs 45,000, according to a company executive.

After launching the Platina 100, its other 100cc bike, three years ago, the company had announced that no further development would be made in this segment. However, as two-thirds of the Indian two-wheeler market is driven by the 100cc segment, Bajaj has decided to make a re-entry with the Discover 100.

The appeal of the bike, according to company executives, will lie in its engine, which is aimed to deliver more than 80 km per litre of petrol under actual riding conditions. The company has pegged the bike as India’s most fuel-efficient 100cc motorcycle.

According to industry experts, the Splendor and CD Dawn/Deluxe models from Hero Honda deliver 65-70 km to a litre. However, both models of Hero Honda enjoy the strongest brand recall among two-wheeler buyers. The Discover 100 of Bajaj Auto is looking to challenge the dominance of Hero Honda, which sells almost nine out of every 10 motorcycles in the 100cc segment.

With an eye on retaining its leadership on the 7.4 million, domestic two-wheeler market, Hero Honda will revamp its product line-up with nine model launches this year, of which two will be completely new models, while the rest will be face-lifts.

Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, Bajaj Auto, said: “We have slotted this bike under the long-distance biking category, for its superior mileage, where an average rider rides for 50 km a day. There have been 100cc bikes earlier as well, but somehow we always fell short of the competitors. However, the success of this bike will rely on its fuel efficiency, which will be better than any other Indian bike.”

Although the bike will play in the economy segment (100cc), it will come at a higher price than other models there, such as its own Platina, priced at Rs 35,000. This will be the company’s 10th production model hitting the market.

“I have always maintained that we will continue to produce 100cc bikes as long as there is demand for it. We had never said we will completely exit a segment which controls two-third of the two-wheeler market,” added Bajaj.

This new bike will be based on the Discover 135 (a mid-segment 135cc bike) platform, but will have a new DTS-Si engine called version 2.0. Mechanical details like length, width and height of the new bike will be similar to the Discover 135, but new graphics and fascia will separate it from its predecessor.

The company is confident of growing its overall sales, including exports, by 14-18 per cent this year to 2.5-2.6 million units, from its last year’s total of 2.19 million units. Its new two-wheelers and three-wheeler launches are expected to revive growth for it, although most of its profitability is driven by the Pulsar range of premium bikes.

“We are confident that the current financial year will be the best-ever year for us both in terms of profitability and sales numbers. We will surpass the total of not only last year, when there was a dip of 10 per cent, but the year before that, too, when we sold about 2.45 million units,” said Bajaj.