Bajaj Auto Leads the Sports Segment in the first 9 months of FY16

Today, Bajaj Auto announced its leadership position in the sports motorcycle segment during the first 9 months of the financial year 2016 i.e. 1st April to 31st December 2015. In a challenging year for the Industry, Bajaj Auto Ltd rolled out more successful new launches than any other motorcycle manufacturer to reach the aggressive goals for 2015 that it had shared with analysts in December 2014.

New high performance, international class Pulsars led by the RS200, AS200 and AS150 did very well and gave the brand an aspirational edge. The Pulsar RS200 has become the largest selling performance bike brand priced above Rs 100,000/-.  The recently launched Avengers have met with an excellent response; sales in December were 20,000 units. Bajaj Auto shall increase its production capacity of Avengers to 30,000 unit’s pm by March 2016.

Bajaj also claimed that in the overall motorcycle mass market comprising Entry, Executive & Sports segments, Bajaj Auto is now the fastest growing in 2 of these 3 segments. In the entry segment, Bajaj Auto grew market share from 23% to 36% in the first 9 months of the financial year. In the Nov-Dec period, following the launch of the new Avengers, Bajaj Auto attained a clear market leadership of 53% in the mass sports segment below Rs 1 lac. The Entry and Sports segment together constitute 43% of the Industry and Bajaj is now the leader in this cluster with a 36% market share.

Speaking on this milestone, Mr Eric Vas, President (Motorcycle Business) Bajaj Auto said, “In a challenging environment for the automobile industry, Bajaj Auto maintained positive momentum as a result of a well-crafted strategy - Superior Customer Value through Differentiated Products and Strong Brands.  By the introduction of new Products such as the CT100 and the new Platina, we strengthened our position in the Entry level segment. In the Sports segment, we enhanced our leadership position through the launch of the Pulsar RS 200, Pulsar AS 200 & 150 and the exciting Avenger Cruise 220 and Avenger Street 220 & 150.”  

The CT 100, which re-entered the Indian market last year, and the new Platina which made its debut in January, have gained market share and volumes in the entry level segment. Bajaj Auto sold 6.81 Lakhs entry level commuter motorcycles in the first 9 months of the year as against 3.83 lakh last year a growth of 77%. With a dominant position in 2 out of the 3 mass market segments, Bajaj Auto shall focus on addressing the large Executive segment with the launch of a completely new brand in this quarter.