Bajaj Auto Feb sales up 5%; new launches to aid FY13 growth

India's second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto said sales in February were highest ever, but there are further signs of a slowdown as total growth was just 5% year-on-year at 3,43,777 units.

The company's motorcycle sales were up 5% at 3,01,961 units last month, while commercial vehicle sales rose 4% to 41,816 units, it said Friday. Bajaj Auto exported 1,22,727 units in February, up 20% from a year ago. Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj's rival and top two-wheeler maker in India, had late Thursday reported sales rose 11% from a year ago to 5,23,465 units in Feb. Investors were disappointed by the slow sales growth at Bajaj Auto. At 10:20 hrs the stock was down 1.1% at Rs 1,755.05 on NSE. Hero MotoCorp was up 0.9% at Rs 1,954.  Rajiv Bajaj, the company's managing director told CNBC-TV18 that growth would be "somewhat tepid this quarter." He said fewer new launches last year had hurt the company's growth, which is expected to be around 15% for the current fiscal. So far over the April-February period, Bajaj Auto's total sales are up 14% year-on-year to 40,14,045 units. This is in contrast to the 34% total sales growth Bajaj Auto reported in 2010-11. Meanwhile, the company has begun deliveries of the Duke 200, from the Austrian motorcycle maker KTM's stable in recent weeks. The new Pulsar 200NS, which was unveiled January-end, will also go on sale from April. Presently Bajaj Auto has a 26% share in the motorcycle industry and Rajiv Bajaj hopes the two new launches plus a brand new motorcycle that will be introduced in May will help it increase its share to over 30% next fiscal year. Read on for Rajiv Bajaj's full interview to CNBC-TV18.. _PAGEBREAK_ Below is an edited trasncript of his interview to CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video. Q: Can you provide us the numbers and the breakup for this month? A: For the month as a whole, we have done 345,000 vehicles. It has been a slow month. It represents a year-on-year growth of 5%. Within that we have about 302,000 motorcycles and about 42,000 three wheelers, that is commercial vehicles. Of course, the positive aspect continues to be that exports which this month were 123,000. It continues to grow nicely at about 20%. Therefore, those are the big numbers. Q: Is the sluggishness product specific where maybe Boxer 150cc and Platina are performing lower than your expectations? A: I would say yes and no. In the sense you are right that the Boxer 150 has not done as well as we had hoped. The Platina on the other hand has surprised us because from a level of about 30,000-35,000 vehicles a month this time last year we are now up to 50,000. The two brands have met with two different levels of success. Ultimately, in this industry like with any durable, the most important thing at the end of the day is the new products you put out in the marketplace. Unfortunately, after two big years in terms of product introductions in 9-10 and 10-11, we have not really put out any significant new product last year and I think that has taken some toll in terms of growth this year. We started with an expectation of 20% growth. We will finish with 15%. But having said that fortunately the new KTM