Bajaj Motorcycles has always pioneered the entry-level performance motorcycle segment in the country. With the brand Pulsar, it gave a series of bikes to the Indian consumers which were about performance and now it plans to add more models under this name.
During a recent media interaction, Eric Vas, president, motorcycle business, Bajaj, said that they were looking to widen the Pulsar portfolio with the addition of an off-roading motorcycle. This was announced when the top honcho was talking about the Pulsar AS200, where AS stands for Adventure Sports. While the Pulsar AS200 is not really an adventure bike nor can you do proper off-roading, the Pune-based manufacturer believes that there is a market for such a bike.
Interestingly, it is quite easy for Bajaj to make this statement because they have KTM and now Husqvarna as well. While KTM motorcycles are more focussed towards street riding, the Husqvarna’s forte lies in the off-road segment. There have been reports of Husqvarna shifting its manufacturing base to India at Bajaj’s Chakan facility by 2017, and if it does, the Indian consumers are surely going to benefit from it. So with technologies from KTM and Husqvarna and a huge manufacturing strength, will Bajaj be able to develop an off-roading bike? Definitely!
But things get more interesting. A couple of days ago KTM’s CEO Stefan Pierer (who also happens to own Husqvarna via his holding company) said that by 2017 there will be new KTM motorcycles developed on a new platform. So we can expect Bajaj to use this updated platform for this new off-roading bike. But why did Eric Vas decide to mention ‘off-roading’ and not an ‘adventure’ bike? Things are surely going to get interesting.
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