Priyanka Vyas

`No plans to enter small car segment'

NEW PLANT: Mr Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto Ltd, rolling out the first Platina motobike from the new plant in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand. The company inaugurated the greenfield plant with a planned capacity of one million motorcycles per annum on Monday.

Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, April 9

With the inauguration of its greenfield plant in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, which will kick off tax rebates for the company, Bajaj Auto on Monday announced a cut of as much as Rs 3,000 in the prices of its 100 cc model Platina, which will be among the first few bikes to be manufactured here.

``Platina has now been priced at Rs 33,000 down from the earlier Rs 36,000,'' the Bajaj Auto Managing Director and CEO, Mr Rajiv Bajaj, told reporters here. However, the company had earlier said that it would exit this segment soon.

By July, the company plans to roll out a new motorcycle in the executive category, which could be priced around Rs 40,000. Mr Bajaj said that the company would be looking to move its customers from the 100 cc segment to a new segment.

Focus on 4-wheeler cargo

Dismissing the claim of Bajaj foraying into the small car segment or partnering with Tata Motors, he said, "Our current focus would be on the four-wheeler cargo, which we plan to launch by 2009. If at all we produce a car it would be on our own, just as we have learnt in the two-wheeler market - through the hard way. However, that does not mean we are not open to ideas." The four-wheeler cargo will compete with Tata's Ace.

Exports

The plant at Uttarakhand, Mr Bajaj said, would address the overseas market in the future. While there was no fixed timeframe by when they would start exporting from the plant, it has been built to scale up capacity for exports to Indonesia where it seeks to gain its market share. The company already has a three-wheeler assembly unit at Indonesia and would like to tap the two-wheeler market, he said, adding that it was looking to set up a manufacturing facility at Jakarta.

"In the fiscal 2006-07, the company exported 4.5 lakh vehicles worth Rs 1,600 crore of which 50,000 were exported only to Columbia and Latin America," said Mr Rahul Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Auto Ltd.

The plant at Pantnagar has been set up at an investment of Rs 700 crore, of which Rs 150 crore has been invested by the company and the remaining by its 16 vendors.

It has a capacity of one million units per annum, which it expects to achieve by October.

This would be the company's first investment outside Maharashtra, said Mr Rahul Bajaj. He expected it to accrue revenues of Rs 2,500 crore per annum.

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