Bajaj Chetak electric to be sold in only India initially, no plans for export - Report
Bajaj Auto has no plans to export its newly unveiled electric scooter, the Chetak, at the moment. The company plans to focus on the domestic market before taking the Chetak electric scooter to global markets.
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Speaking to Autocar Professional recently, Eric Vas, head of the Urbanite Division at Bajaj Auto, said that KTM AG had shown interest in selling the Chetak electric scooter in the European market in 2020. However, Bajaj Auto denied the request, stating that the company wants to first supply the electric scooter in India. The European electric two-wheeler market is expected to witness strong growth by 2025, and a budget-friendly product like the Chetak electric scooter should clock decent sales figures.
If you have been following the updates on the Chetak electric scooter, you would know that the vehicle will be first offered in Pune (Bajaj’s home turf) and Bengaluru in the first phase. The company would then start rolling out the vehicle to other cities in the country. Bajaj Auto further plans to use its learnings from the Indian market to introduce the model internationally. Regular followers would also know that KTM and Husqvarna would use the Chetak platform to introduce their own respective electric scooters. Meanwhile, back home, Bajaj Auto is also reportedly working on a high-performance version of the Chetak electric scooter.
The high-performance version of the Chetak electric scooter is still some time away. In the short term, the company is setting up showrooms to offer the electric scooter, and the first outlet (currently under development) was spotted in Pune, Maharashtra recently. The high-speed scooter market in India isn’t very big, but that does not concern the Pune-based electric two-wheeler brand. Below is Vas told the industrial publication on that matter:
It does not bother us because if you have a good product, then the market will expand eventually… It is important for us to remain adaptive and respond to that, rather than have a plan cast in stone. It is very easy for us to scale up and we can do it as we go along.
Also Read: Bajaj Chetak electric to get three-year/50,000 km warranty, 15,000 km service interval
The Bajaj Chetak electric scooter will be launched in January 2020 and the deliveries will start soon after. The biggest rival for the Chetak electric scooter will be the Ather 450 – a product that has been in the market for over a year now. The Ather 450 packs modern styling that is complemented by the 7-inch capacitive touchscreen display.
[Source: AutocarPro.in]