Bajaj prepares to launch 200cc Pulsar

Bajaj Auto is gearing up to launch a 200cc Pulsar by the end of March 2007. This is part of its endeavour to go up the value chain in the power and performance segment where it is the clear market leader with sales averaging over 35,000 units each month. The company recently launched the new 180cc Pulsar which is being retailed at exclusive Probiking showrooms across the country. In the next few months, the bike will be made available at all Bajaj retail outlets which will only increase its presence and help boost sales substantially.

Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, told Autocar Professional: “By March next year, the 220cc Pulsar DTS-Fi will also make its debut and will be available at our Probiking outlets along with the new 200cc Pulsar. By that time, the new 180cc Pulsar will have moved out to all Bajaj dealerships nationwide.”

The initiative is clearly a reflection of the company’s intent to be pro-active in a segment where it is already the clear market leader. “We do not believe in being complacent and want customers to get the best in technology,” he added. The Pulsar was launched five years ago and caught the fancy of the consumer in a big way. The 150cc version was (and continues to be) the one that fetched the big volumes but Bajaj Auto is confident that the new 180cc has the potential to do monthly numbers of 20,000 units once it is accessible to all customers and is out of the confines of Probiking showrooms.

By the end of the day, it will cost the customer only a couple of thousand rupees more to graduate to the 180cc. Once the 200cc Pulsar debuts early next year, it is logical to presume that sales of all bikes under the Pulsar umbrella could go up to nearly 55,000 units each month. The bike will share most of the features of its 220cc sibling — except for the fuel injection, of course — and will be available at a price of less than Rs 70,000.

It will also be retailed with the Pulsar DTS-Fi at Probiking outlets as part of a carefully thought out retail plan to showcase the new model, allow buyers to get a feel of it and then go in for a nationwide launch. The price points for the Pulsar series will also be structured in such a way that customers can go up to the next level while paying only a little more. Bajaj Auto also hopes that this will result in a gradual transition to the higher end.

Interestingly, this is what Honda Siel Cars did with the City when it replaced a successful model with the new one and saw sales only increase further. In the process, the company silenced all its critics who said this was a huge gamble. If this is what Bajaj Auto is planning with the Pulsar, can the Discover be left far behind? After all, it is the next most powerful brand with combined sales of the 112cc and 125cc totalling 65,000 units a month.

The elevation of the Discover could go hand-in-hand with the company’s eventual objective of eliminating 100cc bikes. Hence, as customers make a beeline for the 180cc and 200cc Pulsar, there could be new avatars for the Discover in the form of a 135cc and 150cc. Bajaj refuses to comment on the issue but sounds out a gentle warning instead. “Sceptics who say that we will not be able to offer a more powerful bike at the price point of the 100cc range will only have to see what we are doing in the Pulsar segment. We have a plan in place and intend to execute it flawlessly,” he says.