Two people close to the development said the new Chetak scooter range was expected in retail showrooms, but a little later, around January next year.

New Delhi: Bajaj Auto is going all out to expand its electric two-wheeler (e2w) portfolio with an aim to achieve market leadership. The e2w market has seen sharp changes in the hierarchy in recent months, with Bajaj’s Chetak briefly reaching second place in September, ahead of TVS Motor Company’s iQube. Ola Electric has remained the market leader by far. But TVS came back in October to claim second place again even as Bajaj continued to trail behind it. Now, Bajaj is offering an “improved and updated” range of Chetak to step up its e2w game. “The dynamic of market share acquisition should further accelerate with the launch of a completely new updated range and an improved range in early mid-November. These upgraded Chetaks will not only have superior and competitive propositions, but will also significantly improve our margin structure,” Bajaj Executive Director Rakesh Sharma told analysts recently.

Two people close to the development said the new Chetak scooter range was expected in retail showrooms, but a little later, around January next year. “The new scooters are under development but retailers have not received anything specific. No training has started yet… there is talk of new Chetak models larger than the existing range, with a bigger battery and motor, so that the brand can compete with the Ather Rizta. They could also come with new price tags,” one of the people said.

The Rizta was positioned as a family scooter and was initially available at a starting price of INR 109,999 (ex-showroom Bengaluru). The positioning and pricing meant that the Rizta became one of the most affordable models in the e2w market at launch and subsequently competitors including Bajaj Auto also introduced models priced under a lakh rupee per the sequel. But the person cited above said Bajaj had simply changed the price of the existing Chetak (while reducing the battery size etc.) to launch a sub-lakh rupee model in response to Rizta earlier this year. “The new Chetak range will be the first time that Bajaj will bring an all-new product, likely with bigger seats, bigger battery etc,” this person said. But when contacted, Sharma did not confirm whether the new Chetak range will have bigger seats, bigger battery, etc. “Indeed, we will begin the introduction of the new platform in mid-November and beyond. It would be better to wait for this event as we can be accurate only then,” Sharma told ETAuto. Currently, the Chetak is offered at three price points: INR 1.35 lakh, INR 1.15 lakh and the affordable variant which has a price range of INR 96,000 to 100,000.

Meanwhile, apart from the new products, Bajaj is also expanding the distribution reach of Chetak, with Sharma promising availability of the electric scooter in 1,000 more outlets by January next year. This will take Chetak’s total footprint to 4,000 outlets – these are Bajaj’s existing motorcycle showrooms where Chetak is also retailed. Additionally, the number of exclusive Chetak outlets will increase from the current 250.

Stop draining margins:

Bajaj’s focus on expanding the product range and distribution of electric scooters comes just as the company’s electric vehicle portfolio (in its entirety) has stopped dragging on its overall margins from of the second quarter (July-September) 2024-25. Profitable sales of electric three-wheelers are currently the reason why the overall electric portfolio stops dragging on margins.

Bajaj’s EBITDA for the second quarter “remained stable in absolute terms. Clearly, benefiting from the rise of the very profitable portfolio of electric three-wheelers and the reduction in costs, which we have been talking about for a long time on Chetak, of essentially electric two-wheelers. This portfolio has now sold one lakh units in this quarter for the first time ever, which is quite significant in the journey we are firmly on towards electrification,” Rakesh Sharma told analysts.

The rise of three-wheelers offset the negative impact of Chetak on EBITDA margins. Indeed, Bajaj Auto’s cash burn on the electric portfolio is now stable. Perhaps with Chetak’s new product range, distribution network expansion and new tariffs, the share of electric two-wheelers in overall margins would also eventually turn positive. Sales of e2w touched the 70,000 unit mark in Q2 compared to just 40,000 units in Q1FY25.

Freedom 125:

While the e2w portfolio is receiving special attention from Bajaj, the company is also bullish on the CNG bike, Freedom 125. Till September, the company claims to have retailed 10,000 of these bicycles and the target for October alone was 18,000 units. Two dealers, however, spoke about the entry-level variants of the Freedom 125 – called ‘Drum with LED’ and ‘Drum’ – having seen their prices drop by INR 5,000 each during the festival season.

Both dealers said that these variants have seen slow growth and that is why the company reduced the price, denying that the INR 5,000 reduction was a festive discount. But Bajaj Auto’s Sharma said that with the increase in overall sales of Freedom 125, the company has increased its production, to 30,000 units per month in the current quarter and to 40,000 per month from the fourth quarter (January-March 2025). Bajaj has marketed this bike on the savings plan, claiming 50% savings on fuel bills compared to petrol bikes.

To a question about the time taken by customers to refuel with CNG in different cities, Sharma said “the waiting period (to get the petrol) is probably a few minutes and seconds.” Some dealers said the ubiquitous queues to get CNG to pumps in major cities have had a deterrent effect on some potential Freedom 125 customers.

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