Bajaj Auto Looking To Revamp Sales
Pune based two-wheeler and three-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto is looking to revamp its motorcycle sales after a difficult first quarter of the new financial year.
Company’s managing director, Rajiv Bajaj in the 10th Annual General Meeting spoke about company’s aggressive plan to speed up the company's share in the local motorcycle market to 26 per cent.
In Q1 of FY18, company’s market share in the motorcycle space came down around 15 per cent, primarily due to lower despatches by company in June compared to rival manufacturers, when the economy was readying up towards the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Bajaj Auto’s sales figure in the first quarter was also impacted due to BS-IV transmission in April and partly due to the aftereffect impact of demonetisation.
Bajaj said its real retail market share was in the vicinity of 20 per cent and that it would clearly reflect in wholesale numbers as well within a quarter.
“A push of inventory in the market by competition had led to the lower wholesale number for the company in the fiscal first quarter,” Bajaj said.
Bajaj Auto reported a 19 per cent decline in profits at Rs 837 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2017 as demand subsided following intense competition in the earlier quarter.
Total vehicles sales during the quarter declined 11 per cent to 888,434 units as against 994,733 units in the corresponding period of last fiscal.
The company will also be launching new products under its seven brands: CT, Platina, Discover, V Series, Avenger, Pulsar, Dominar. It had recently launched the Pulsar NS160 at Rs 82,400.
In the three-wheeler segment where Bajaj Auto is the market leader, Bajaj hinted that the company could advance the commercial roll-out date for the ambitious electric three-wheeler by two years.
“We have made some significant gains on the product, putting Bajaj Auto in a position to possibly launch the vehicle next year itself,” Bajaj said. The company had earlier projected to launch the electric three-wheeler in 2020.
The company is also anticipating that this year it might get license from the government to sell its quadricycle Qute in India.
The MD had earlier made headlines when he spoke about the regulatory hurdles it is facing to sell Qute in India, despite selling the product in many emerging markets.
Bajaj is also confident that export market will bring good numbers. Bajaj Auto had seen fall in export for nearly five quarters due to turbulence in key market like Nigeria and Sri Lanka. In the first quarter, company’s export grew by 10 per cent to 409,525 units.
