Bajaj Auto's Next Offering This Year Will Be a High Capacity Motorcycle

After launching the V15 premium commuter motorcycle recently, Bajaj Auto plans to introduce a premium motorcycle in the country as its next major offering. Speaking to carandbike.com, Eric Vas, President (Motorcycle Business), Bajaj Auto said, "The next motorcycle will be a big bike, bigger than anything currently on offer from Bajaj." The statement definitely sheds light on the company's next major offering, which could be a mid-size offering.

Bajaj Auto's current flagship is the Pulsar RS 200 powered by a 199.5cc engine. In all likelihood, the next motorcycle in question could be the Pulsar CS (Cruiser Sport) 400, which was first showcased as a concept at the 2014 Auto Expo. Sharing its underpinnings with the KTM Duke 390, the Pulsar CS 400 was the bike maker's iteration of a power cruiser and grabbed quite a lot of attention at the time of unveil. While the full faired SS 400 Concept made it production as the Pulsar RS 200, Bajaj is yet to bring the CS 400 to the showrooms and that could be because the company does not want to compromise on displacement.

The Bajaj Pulsar CS 400 will be using a 373.4cc single-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine with fuel injection, similar to the KTM Duke 390 with the power output expected to be close to around 40bhp. High on styling, we can also expect the interesting bits from the cruiser to make it the production spec model including the digital instrument cluster, LCD display unit on the fuel tank, wavy alloy wheels, among other bits. That said, the bike will get extensive changes to make it production friendly.

Also Read: Everything You Want to Know About Bajaj Pulsar CS 400

This also means Bajaj is finally ready to take the big leap in the premium bike market after testing waters with the Pulsar 200 NS and the RS 200. With KTM ruling the roost in the "affordable" performance bike space, the Pune based bike maker will have to position its big bike below the Austrian offering. This will result in the CS 400 being slightly more affordable. So, expecting a price tag below the Rs. 2 lakh (ex-showroom) mark won't be far fetched.