Pune-based Bajaj Auto has claimed that it has grown its market share in the super-sports motorcycle segment from 10% to 59% in the past two years in the Indian market. The company, in a press release, has also communicated that it has expanded the market size of this motorcycle segment by up to 50% in recent years.

According to the company, the motorcycles in the super sports segment are classified as bikes that come with a price tag of Rs 100,000 and above. Viewing the market in this order, Bajaj Auto claims that its Pulsar brand enjoys over 40% of the market share among its competitors.

The release states that “in a period of two years, Bajaj Auto has dethroned the Japanese manufacturers by rapidly gaining market share from a meagre 10% in June 2013 to a staggering 59% in May 2015.”

The company is known to have entered the Rs 100,000 and above price bracket through its Chakan-made KTM 200 Duke model in 2012, which was then rolled out at an ex-showroom price tag of close to Rs 117,000. Since then, Bajaj Auto has floated another four models in the super sports motorcycle category – KTM 390 Duke, KTM RC 200 and RC 390, and the recently launched Pulsar RS 200. This is besides selling the Kawasaki Ninja 300 and Ninja 650R through its outlets.

Commenting on this, Eric Vas, president, motorcycle business, Bajaj Auto, has said that “the all-new Pulsar RS 200 has met with a phenomenal response and has been a runaway success with customers. Within three months of launch, the Pulsar RS 200 has clocked over 7,000 bookings and has a two-month waiting period. Together with the KTMs manufactured by Bajaj, we today dominate this high-end segment and are driving its growth. This rapid domination in high-end super sports segment, well ahead of all international competition, along with the sustained leadership for more than 10 years in the sports segment, is testimony to the fact that when it comes to performance bikes, Bajaj is No. 1 by far.”

The company had launched the two variants of the 24.2bhp Pulsar RS 200 on March 26, 2015 at an ex-showroom, Delhi price of Rs 118,000 (non-ABS) and Rs 130,000 (ABS variant). While the company had initially launched this model only for the urban markets, the Pulsar RS 200’s pan-India demand soon outstripped its supply. Since then Bajaj Auto, in a phased manner, has been adding new domestic markets to the RS200’s supply chain to cater to its demand.

In an exclusive conversation with Autocar Professional recently, Vas had mentioned that the ABS variant of the Pulsar RS 200 is dominating the total bookings of that model, which stood at close to 3,500 units around end-April 2015. Reports suggest that the company is supplying this model to 56 cities in the country.

It is known that unlike SIAM, which classifies the two-wheeler motorcycle market primarily on the basis of engine displacement, Bajaj Auto views and divides the market from the price perspective.

According to Bajaj Auto’s investor meet document from December 2014, the company sees the whole two-wheeler industry into three basic segments – mileage (82% of the entire 2-wheeler market), sports (18% of 2W market) and premium (0.1% of 2W market). The document states that (considering the industry sales data between April 2014-November 2014), while the sports segment stood at 170,000 units per month, the premium motorcycle category sold only 750 units per month. The monthly sales of mileage class stood at 760,000 units.

The company splits the sports segment into three sub-categories – S1, S2 and S3. The S1 sub-category, which had a monthly market size of 135,000 units, is defined as entry level sports motorcycles that come in the price range of Rs 60,000-Rs 100,000 (150cc-225cc). Bajaj’s Pulsar commands a market share of 44% in this category and the principal competition comes from Yamaha and Honda.

The document further states that the S2 category, which had a market size of 30,000 units per month, is defined as motorcycles with premium sports / touring features that comes in the price range of Rs 100,000-Rs 175,000 (150cc-500cc). As per the document dated December 2014, Bajaj held a market share of 4% through KTM models as the principal competition came from Royal Enfield and Yamaha.

The S3 category, which stood with a market size of only 1,000 units per month, is defined as motorcycles that come in the price range of Rs 175,000-Rs 250,000 (250cc-500cc). The document states that Bajaj commanded a market share of 53% in this category through KTM models as the principal competition came from Royal Enfield (Continental GT) and Honda (CBR250R).

The premium end, as defined by Bajaj Auto, is the category comprising motorcycles costing more than Rs 250,000 and come with multiple-cylinder engines and advanced features. Bajaj’s market share in this category stood at 18% through its sales of two Kawasaki models. The principal competition, as the document points out, came from Harley-Davidson India, which commanded a market share of 62%.