Rajiv Bajaj (Photo: Bajaj Group website)
Bajaj Auto is gearing up to launch a host of clean energy vehicles, including another CNG-powered motorcycle, unveiling ethanol-powered motorcycles and three-wheelers next month, as well as launching a new Chetak platform early next year, as it edges closer to hitting the 100,000-month clean energy vehicle sales mark this festive season.
In an interview with CNBC-TV18Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said that these initiatives are part of Bajaj Auto’s larger goal of achieving monthly sales of 100,000 clean energy vehicles by this festive season. “We are on the verge of achieving monthly sales and production of 100,000 clean energy vehicles by this festive season,” Bajaj said in the interview.
The company recently launched the Freedom 125, the world’s first compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered motorcycle. Around 2,000 units of the motorcycle have been shipped, which features a 2 kg CNG tank and a 2 litre petrol tank with a range of up to 330 km. “We expect to deliver 8,000-9,000 Freedom 125 CNG motorcycles in August and by January, we will hit the mark of 40,000 CNG motorcycles per month.” He also confirmed that an electric rickshaw will be launched in the next financial year,” Bajaj said.
Additionally, Bajaj Auto plans to introduce ethanol-powered motorcycles and three-wheelers next month, which would be launched in FY2025. Additionally, Bajaj Auto plans to bring more electric scooters in this fiscal, both in the affordable and premium range. A new Chetak platform is also expected early next year.
Asked about the launch expectations of electric motorcycles, Bajaj said, “The advantage that motorcycles had over scooters in ICE format has now disappeared with electric vehicles. Scooters in EV format have much more potential than motorcycles.”
Rajiv Bajaj said he is advocating a reduction in the goods and services tax (GST) on motorcycles running on CNG. “If electric vehicles can pay a 5 per cent tax, there is no reason why a vehicle running on a relatively cleaner fuel like CNG should pay a 28 per cent tax,” he said.
Bajaj Auto already has an 18 per cent market share in the electric two-wheeler segment, where the Chetak electric scooter competes with TVS’s iQube. Bajaj Auto is also the market leader in the electric three-wheeler segment, with a 36 per cent share. “We have a 36 per cent market share in electric three-wheelers; we would like to increase it to 80 per cent,” Bajaj said.
The company’s electric vehicle business is already profitable.
Rajiv Bajaj has no plans to retire
“I must clarify that I am not going anywhere in the near future. I have no plans to retire,” Rajiv Bajaj said. CNBC-TV18 in an interview. His comments came after media reports claimed that Bajaj had hinted that the company needs a “younger CEO” at the company’s 17th Annual General Meeting.
Bajaj said on Monday that he had said it in a “lighter” tone while congratulating his colleagues, Joe of Chetak Technologies and Kevin D’sa of Bajaj Auto Credit Ltd.
“Just like these two companies (Chetak Technologies and Bajaj Auto Credit) have new CEOs, Bajaj Auto (too) needs a new CEO, a younger one, because I have been here for 34 years. I am 58 years old and I am not that young anymore,” he said, though he added that he would not be going anywhere immediately.
Bajaj said he became managing director about 20 years ago, when he was 35. Bajaj has served as managing director of Bajaj Auto since April 2005.
“Look at my good friend Siddharth in Royal Enfield. What a fantastic success he has had, and he is about 10 years younger than me. And look at the incredible run that TVS has had, and Sudarshan is only 35, I think, and he was MD at 33. So when I look at this, it certainly makes me feel that even though we are wiser, say, when we are older, I wonder if we have the same drive that we had when we were 35 and 45. So you know the saying, ‘If only youth knew and if only age could’. So that sometimes worries me,” he said on Monday.
“But no, I don’t have any retirement plans or succession plans at this time.”
First published: August 26, 2024 | 19:24 IS
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