But not having a scooter model in its portfolio therefore means Bajaj is essentially addressing only 75% of the two wheeler market. Rajiv Bajaj says that he has already asked his R&D team to begin working on a scooter platform. The all-new scooter will take 2-3 years more to be developed. Bajaj is in no rush to launch the scooter though. The company believes it must first gain total supremacy in the motorcycle space before reentering scooters. Bajaj claims that it is Honda, and not Hero who occupies the position of being the world's largest two wheeler maker. It wants to overtake Hero to the second spot first - a target it hopes to achieve within the next 2-3 years.
That will coincide with the completion of the development work on the scooter, allowing it to bring this new product to market, For now Rajiv Bajaj says the scooter will definitely not be called Chetak! This is contrary to reports suggesting any scooter revival at Bajaj would carry that brand name. I look forward to the scenario though, as it would mean an intense battle in the scooter space - and therefore also a sub segmentation. That is something the scooter space currently lacks with only 90-125cc displacement offerings in the market. Further growth of the segment and greater competition will spur the development of multiple scooter segments, with electric/hybrid applications also likely to gain ground.
