Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Bajaj Auto back to health... and wealth

Rajiv Bajaj’s nifty maneuvers were just the right recipe to nurse Bajaj Auto back to health... and wealth.

But Rajiv shrugged off all paranoia with studied determination. He was convinced that the strategy to let the Bajaj brand take a backseat and promote sub brands would sharpen their marketing strategy. Almost two years down the line today, the move seems to have paid off. In the words of K Srinivas, President-Motorcycles, Bajaj Auto, “At a consolidated level including export, this independent brand strategy has helped us sell four million bikes a year. We have roughly 10% of the global market share by volumes today and the target is to take it to 20% which will double our size,” he told 4Ps B&M.

Today, Pulsar brand variants range from 135cc to 220cc, while Discover covers the 100cc to 150cc segment with three variants. The independent brand strategy has helped Bajaj create a family of products under the umbrellas of these sub-brands. Bajaj now seems unafraid to take on rivals in both the entry level and premium segments. For instance, Bajaj loyalists would remember the Pulsar ‘Hunto’ ad launched by the company in 2011 that took a straight dig at Japanese manufacturers by claiming that ‘Pulsar sells five times more than any Japanese sports bike in India’. A recent commercial for Discover takes a veiled dig at Hero’s flagship brands Passion and Splendor.

While regaining pole position is still a distant dream for Bajaj Auto as its 19% share in the domestic two-wheeler market is not even half of Hero’s 45% share, the Pune-based company has carved a different positioning for its products. Growing at above 6%, Bajaj sold 2.56 million two-wheelers in the domestic market over the last fiscal.

There is another crucial chapter to Bajaj’s comeback story viz. surging exports growth. In 2011-12 alone, Bajaj’s exports grew more than 30% to 1.26 million units, earning Bajaj the distinction of being the largest two-wheeler exporter from India. “Our average exports volumes have moved up from 25,000 units to 1,12,000 units in just five years,” said Srinivas.

Complacency however can still mar Bajaj’s comeback saga. The company may be in a much better shape today, but competition is already knocking. For the first time ever, March 2012 saw rival HMSI edge ahead of Bajaj with a small margin of around 2,000 units, making HMSI the second largest two-wheeler maker for a 30-day period. But Bajaj believes that “one swallow does not make a summer” and is unfazed by rising competitive pressure.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

at