Bajaj Plans Capacity Expansion as Pulsar Demand Regains Strength
Siddharth Vinayak Patankar
1 min read
Jun 11, 2015, 07:17 PM
India's biggest sport biker maker Bajaj Auto has lost marketshare over the past 15 months. In fact from being the strong number two to Hero's number one position, Bajaj has since been overtaken by both Honda and TVS too in monthly sales. Now as it fights to regain marketshare, it is seeing traction for its products, and will therefore have to expand capacity at its Chakan plant. Bajaj currently makes motorcycles at three locations. The plant in Waluj makes the Platina, CT100 and Discover as well as the Boxer for exports. Pantnagar is the location for the Platina and Discover family too. And it is at Chakan that its high displacement and also high-margin products are made, namely the Pulsar range, Avenger, Kawasaki Ninja and KTM brand bikes. Again the production focus here too is a mix of export and domestic sales.
The reason Bajaj is considering the move to a higher production output, despite seeing a decline in demand last year, is because it is now armed with a new range of products. The Pulsar family has now got the NS, AS and RS series - besides the existing 135, 150, 180, and 220 cc Pulsars. The AS and RS have now begun to add to the demand that Bajaj is once again seeing, and so there has been an 8% rise in month-on-month sales since January this year. In the last quarter of this fiscal Bajaj will also launch the CS 400 - where too it sees a stronger demand than many believe. The newly launched RS 200 has in fact seen a very strong market demand, resting in a supply crunch. When I met Eric Vas, President of Bajaj Auto's Motorcycle division, he told me the company is well aware of the waiting periods building up on the RS 200. He said, "Certainly we do have a slight capacity constraint on the race sport currently, we have customers who have been waiting for 45 days for that product and fortunately it is not something unmanageable, we are fairly competent at expanding capacity so we will hike capacity as the market goes along. Maybe it will take us a month, a month and a half to ramp up capacities a little bit, more because constraints at vendors rather than our end."
So in the short-term Bajaj will realign its production by tweaking the number of shifts and daily output from Chakan. But that will certainly not tide it over as demand continues to increase, and the new bikes - AS in particular gain traction in the domestic and export markets for Bajaj. Add to that the upcoming CS series and future products, and Bajaj know it needs to increase production output - and more so at Chakan which makes the more sophisticated products. "That is the part of the game. (At) the Chakan plant there is some discussion about capacity expansion", says Vas and expect a formal announcement on this from Bajaj by the second quarter of the current fiscal. At present Bajaj has the installed capacity to make close to 51 lakh motorcycles a year (Chakan plant capacity accounts for approx 12 lakh units), as compared to Hero MotoCorp's 70 lakh and HMSI's 48 lakh unit annual capacity.
The reason Bajaj is considering the move to a higher production output, despite seeing a decline in demand last year, is because it is now armed with a new range of products. The Pulsar family has now got the NS, AS and RS series - besides the existing 135, 150, 180, and 220 cc Pulsars. The AS and RS have now begun to add to the demand that Bajaj is once again seeing, and so there has been an 8% rise in month-on-month sales since January this year. In the last quarter of this fiscal Bajaj will also launch the CS 400 - where too it sees a stronger demand than many believe. The newly launched RS 200 has in fact seen a very strong market demand, resting in a supply crunch. When I met Eric Vas, President of Bajaj Auto's Motorcycle division, he told me the company is well aware of the waiting periods building up on the RS 200. He said, "Certainly we do have a slight capacity constraint on the race sport currently, we have customers who have been waiting for 45 days for that product and fortunately it is not something unmanageable, we are fairly competent at expanding capacity so we will hike capacity as the market goes along. Maybe it will take us a month, a month and a half to ramp up capacities a little bit, more because constraints at vendors rather than our end."
So in the short-term Bajaj will realign its production by tweaking the number of shifts and daily output from Chakan. But that will certainly not tide it over as demand continues to increase, and the new bikes - AS in particular gain traction in the domestic and export markets for Bajaj. Add to that the upcoming CS series and future products, and Bajaj know it needs to increase production output - and more so at Chakan which makes the more sophisticated products. "That is the part of the game. (At) the Chakan plant there is some discussion about capacity expansion", says Vas and expect a formal announcement on this from Bajaj by the second quarter of the current fiscal. At present Bajaj has the installed capacity to make close to 51 lakh motorcycles a year (Chakan plant capacity accounts for approx 12 lakh units), as compared to Hero MotoCorp's 70 lakh and HMSI's 48 lakh unit annual capacity.
Related News
Popular Bajaj Models
Latest Cars
Upcoming Cars
Latest News
car&bike Team | Jun 6, 2026Premium TVS, Norton Bikes To Be Sold Via New Paddock OutletsTVS Motor has unveiled TVS Paddock, a standalone retail network for its premium motorcycles, with the first outlets set to open in the second quarter of FY27.1 min read
Amaan Ahmed | Jun 5, 2026E85 Fuel Priced At Rs 82.12 Per Litre In Delhi; First E85 Station InauguratedAt the opening of the first E85-dispensing station in the national capital, petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri promised E85 will be Rs 20 cheaper than E20 petrol.1 min read
car&bike Team | Jun 5, 2026Renault Duster 1.0 Turbo Fuel Efficiency Figure RevealedSmaller turbo-petrol unit is offered in the base and lower mid-spec trims of the new Duster; it only gets a manual gearbox option.1 min read
car&bike Team | Jun 5, 2026Green SM's Electric Taxi Service Now Live In India: VinFast Limo Green MPVs Deployed In Delhi-NCRBacked by VinFast parent Vingroup, the fleet uses the VinFast Limo Green electric MPV and will compete with established players such as Uber and Ola.2 mins read
Jaiveer Mehra | Jun 5, 2026Audi Nuvolari Debuts As Limited-Run 987 bhp Hybrid SupercarLimited to 499 units, the Nuvolari shares its running gear with the Lamborghini Temerario though Audi has upper the performance figures.1 min read
Amaan Ahmed | Jun 5, 2026Tata Design Chief On Ferrari EV's Polarising Shape: Avoiding "Sameness" Crucial, But...Social media didn't take kindly to the reveal of Ferrari's first-ever electric car, with innumerable brickbats thrown in Maranello's direction over its design. We spoke to Tata's Martin Uhlarik to understand a car designer's take on the subject3 mins read
Seshan Vijayraghvan | Jun 6, 20262026 Tata Tiago And Tiago iCNG Review: Budget Hatch Offers Premium AppealThe 2026 Tata Tiago range brings a lot of new things to the segment, and on paper, it looks like a solid product. But,, is the premium appeal real?1 min read
Preetam Bora | Jun 4, 2026Royal Enfield Bullet 650 Review: Is This the Most Desirable RE 650 Twin Yet?We spent some quality time with the new Royal Enfield Bullet 650, and here's our honest take – what we love, and where there's room to do better.1 min read
Janak Sorap | Jun 2, 2026California Superbike School: Finding Speed The Right WayThree days of coaching, track time and self-discovery at California Superbike School revealed that riding faster begins with understanding how to ride better.7 mins read
Girish Karkera | May 31, 20262026 Honda City e:HEV Review: Smartest Compact Sedan To Buy?The most affordable strong hybrid sedan in India looks more interesting than any of its past avatars1 min read
Bilal Firfiray | May 29, 2026Skoda Octavia vRS Review: The Sensible Car Every Car Guy (Eventually) WantsThe Skoda Octavia vRS blends practicality with performance. It’s a real enthusiast appeal in a sensible sedan package.1 min read