Discover 135 marks key part of Bajaj plan

Bajaj Auto’s decision to launch the 135cc Discover is part of a bigger plan to go up the value chain in its premium bike range which also includes the Pulsar and Avenger. A section of the market believes that the company has just been on a mindless assault introducing endless variants but managing director, Rajiv Bajaj refutes this criticism. He told Autocar Professional that the Discover 135 was just not another bike but had a whole lot of new features to offer.

“It would be wrong to assume that our job begins and ends with merely enhancing engine capacity. There is tremendous hard work involved. The bike has the best attributes in its segment when it comes to power, styling and mileage,” he said. Further, it is dearer by Rs 3,000 which means it is at a premium to competition and will translate into greater profitability.

RECORD TIME

The new Discover, in Bajaj’s view, was a tribute to his team especially when it was completed in record time. It is quite likely now that the company will look at a 150cc option while raising the bar for the Pulsar too. Clearly, consumers are happy with the effort if the sales product mix is any indication. The Pulsar 180 is quickly garnering volumes and does nearly one-thirds of sales of 40,000-and-odd units. The 150cc sibling possibly accounts for a little over 20,000 units while the 200cc and 220cc DTS-Fi (fuel injections) options are slowly making headway.

It also remains to be seen if buyers of both the Discover and Pulsar would much rather opt for the higher-end versions. If that were the case, the Discover 125 would gradually lose out to the new 135cc offering while the same could happen to the Pulsar 150 should the 180 and 200 models take over in a big way.

However, Bajaj said that it would be wrong to make such assumptions as tastes varied among consumers and eventually it was important for each of them to have an option. The fact remains though that the Platina has impacted sales of the 112cc Discover which have dropped to barely 15,000 units a month. Whether it will be phased out eventually is up to the market to decide.

PREMIUM ADVANTAGE

By the end of the day, it helps the company to have premium motorcycles in its kitty because they do a great deal of good in enhancing its image as well as assuring more margins. As Bajaj put it, each of the company’s product initiatives is akin to putting pieces of a puzzle together with the last big one being the new bike to be launched next fiscal.

“The Platina is at our lowest price point of Rs 33,000 with the next level being the Discover at around Rs 45,000. The next bike, due for launch soon, will fit into the segment lying between and this is where the product strategy will be clearly defined,” he says. Production of this model will happen at Waluj.

MURALI GOPALAN