The automaker is open to the idea in the long term if the market dynamics change, executive director Rakesh Sharma tells Moneycontrol amid a push by multiple EV startups to introduce e-motorcycles
Eric Vas, President of Motorcycle Business at Bajaj Auto, said that post demonetisation there has been a significant decline in the sales of 2-wheelers. It was 50 percent in rural India and 25 percent in urban areas.
Ravikumar is confident that the drop in exports could end in the second quarter of financial year 2017. The company is going to review its export guidance of 16 lakh units for FY17 by December.
In an interview to CNBC-TV18, S Ravikumar, President-Business Development at Bajaj Auto spoke about their September auto sales numbers.
A sharp fall in exports, led by turmoil in Nigeria, was offset by high growth in domestic markets for the month of April for Bajaj Auto, says S Ravikumar, President, Business Development.
S Ravikumar, President - Business Development, Bajaj Auto, says the company plans to launch three new Avengers in October.
Bajaj Auto will also be launching a new motorcycle brand after a decade. Right now, it has three brands - Discover, Pulsar and the Platina
The company, which sells various popular motorcycle models including Pulsar, Discover and Platina, currently has a market share of 18 percent in the domestic market.
Revenue, during the quarter, may jump 13.3 percent at Rs 5952 crore versus Rs 5252.4 crore in year-ago period. EBITDA is seen up 30.6 percent at Rs 1209 crore against Rs 925.2 crore year-on-year while operating profit margin may come in at 20.3 percent from 17.6 percent.
Homegrown automaker Bajaj Auto said its May monthly sales stood were down 2 percent to 3.45 lakh, compared to 3.51 lakh year-on-year.
Following a disappointing run over the past several months, Bajaj Auto delivered on its promise that sales would turn up soon, saying it had sold 3.36 lakh vehicles in April, compared to 2.5 lakh in March.
Bajaj Auto‘s disappointing run continued in March, with the company saying its overall sales fell 18 percent to 2.50 lakh, compared to March 2014. But in an interview, MD Rajiv Bajaj said that a slew of recent and upcoming launches at both the economy and premium segments would help regain market share.
Bajaj Auto sees headroom for growth in exports and is hopeful of maintaining its margins of around 18-20 percent going ahead.
With its market share falling from a consistent 24 percent a few years back to 18 percent now, it appears Bajaj Auto has decided to tweak its earlier strategy of focusing on select models.
Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto believes that the company should not have communicated Discover as a 100cc brand. It was always positioned as a 125cc motorcycle.
The Pune-based company had earlier raised prices of its Pulsar model range by Rs 1,000 at the end of festival season this year.
Bajaj Auto is hopeful of recovering its market share in the two-wheeler segment with new launches lined up. It is also optimistic on better exports going forward.
Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, Bajaj Auto told CNBC-TV18 that October 2012 was the second best month ever in our history of the company.