Bajaj Auto will be launching a new ‘Chetak’ for the next three to five years, as new electric scooters are in the pipeline
Bajaj Auto has endured good reception for its Chetak electric scooter since it began expanding its footprint across many parts of the country. The Chetak nameplate returned after a long hiatus for the brand in the scooter segment and buoyed by its decent success, the Chakan-based manufacturer will flex its wings in the zero-emission space.
In the electric two-wheeler, mainly the e-scooter segment, we have seen many start-ups trying their best to grab market share and thus the prospect of affordability, high range and build quality come into the spotlight to differentiate one from the other. Bajaj has confirmed an investment of Rs. 300 crore to roll out five lakh electric vehicles per year.
In addition, Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director of Bajaj Auto told in an interview: “It is far cheaper to be wrong than it is to be late.” He further noted that Bajaj will be endeavouring to roll out 50,000 electric vehicles in the financial year 2022-23 as compared to just 8,000 units in the existing fiscal. Bajaj said his brand will be launching a new ‘Chetak’ for the next three to five years.
From next fiscal, Bajaj will be focussing on manufacturing 2,000 units of the Chetak electric scooter and the Akurdi EV facility in Pune will be up and running by June 2022 for vehicle assembly with the aim of rolling out 2,50,000 EVs every year and it can be expanded to five lakh units as mentioned above, should the demand persists.
Rajiv Bajaj acknowledged that Chetak “will be the mother brand for 2-wheeler EVs” made by his company and in the coming months, electric three-wheelers will be manufactured. Bajaj appears to be working on a range of electric scooters across different price brackets and body types and whether the Chetak name will be used for a standalone sub-brand or not is yet unknown.
The existing Chetak will be renewed over time but Bajaj is not looking at “EVs as mass market right now” In the coming years, we will see plenty of action in the electric two-wheeler space as Hero MotoCorp, Suzuki, Yamaha and TVS are banking big on it.