In a bid to popularise its electric offering, two-wheeler manufacturer major Bajaj Auto will have exclusive showroom outlets for Chetak across the country.

The electric Chetak is priced at ₹1,40,000 in India and is available in more than 40 cities. The Chetak has a powered 3kWh IP67-rated lithium-ion battery and charges 100 per cent in four hours.

The showrooms will be digitally enabled and designed by the company to address any consumer concerns about electric vehicles.

“The adoption of an electric vehicle is forward-looking and has been good in the last six months. High-speed scooter in December was clocking 20 per cent of the scooter market. The idea of parking a scooter in one corner of largely ICE motorcycle stores is a very suboptimal solution and a lot of our network is happy to put up stand-alone stores. As the market unfolds in the next two to three years, it will give us a good position. We will do it with triumph as well,” said Rakesh Sharma, Executive Director, Bajaj Auto Ltd during the December earnings call.

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Bajaj Auto introduced Chetak in 1972 discontinued it in 2005 due to low demand and reintroduced it as an electric Chetak in 2019. The electric Chetak has sold close to 25,000 units in the country.

Market share and FAME EV Subsidy

While the company is aiming to further popularise the Chetak, it has stated that its focus is not on market share with the product.

“We do not have any volumetric ambition at this point. We can drop the price and capture whichever market share we want. We are building capabilities to launch a range of products and reduce costs, and to prepare for a scenario where subsidy is less. In one way it is an artificial support to the industry. What happens if the subsidy is half? We want to make our business full proof of subsidy. In FY24 you will see the outcome of the work that is going on in expanding the Research and development, manpower, infrastructure, and supply chain,” added Sharma.

businessline had earlier reported Ola Electric remained the market leader in the electric two-wheeler segment and gained a 26.9 per cent share in December while Bajaj Auto had an electric vehicle market share of 5 per cent.

Also read: Ola Electric registers sale of 25,000 units in December

Further, the new electric battery norms and the halting of FAME II will benefit Two-wheelers electric vehicle Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) including Ola, TVS Motors, Hero Electric, and Ather in increasing their market share. According to BNP Paribas, the consolidated electric two-wheeler OEMs have over 65 per cent market share.

Bajaj Auto posted a 3 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at ₹1,472 crore for the quarter that ended December 31, compared to ₹1,429 crore in the same quarter last year. Revenue from operations grew 3.29 per cent to ₹9,318 compared with ₹9,021 crore in the same quarter last year.

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