Undeterred by the slowdown in the auto market, Bajaj Auto today said it plans to launch nine models in the next nine months and looks to make a turnaround in sales growth.
"How the industry fares this year will depend on individual companies... We are very positive about this year. We will be launching nine new models in the next nine months," Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj told PTI.
He said the company will launch six two-wheeler models and three in the three-wheeler segment.
Explaining the optimistic outlook despite a bleak market, he said: "Raw material costs have come down drastically, which gives us a benefit of about Rs 1,000 per bike. Our exports have also been growing, driven by sales in markets like Africa, which is unaffected by the global credit crisis."
On the domestic front, where sales have been dwindling, Bajaj said the company will stick to its strategy of focusing on bikes of an engine capacity above 125 cc.
"Now the 125cc plus bikes constitute 41 per cent of the motorcycle market. It is only a matter of time that this will become 50 per cent and we will continue our efforts to wean away customers from the entry level 100 cc to higher capacity bikes," Bajaj said.
He said the company has been able to overcome the problems of lack of retail credit and only about 30 per cent of its sales are now through financing.
