Witnessing the poor motorcycle sales in November 2014, Bajaj Auto will now make a come back with the launch of four new motorcycles in the first quarter of 2015, as revealed to CNBC-TV18 by Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto. The launch of these motorcycles is expected to increase the market share of the company to 20-22 percent. The motorcycles will include Platina, Pulsar 150 NS, Pulsar 200 SS and Pulsar 400 SS. The information revealed by Rajeev Bajaj and the earlier reported stories and pictures of production ready Pulsar 200 SS taken in Turkey makes us believe that the wraps will be soon taken off from these bikes and Bajaj may launch Pulsar 400 SS and 200 SS alongside.
Pulsar 200 ss will most likely be powered by triple spark, 199.5 cc , 4-stroke, liquid cooled, single cylinder engine which churns out 23.52 PS of power and 18.3 Nm of torque paired to a 6-speed transmission, accelerating from 0 – 60 in just 3.1 seconds. While the fully faired Pulsar 400 SS, belonging to super sports bike family is expected to be powered by a 375 cc, single cylinder, liquid cooled, tri-spark engine producing 44 BHP of maximum power at 9500 rpm and 35 Nm of peak torque at 7250 rpm, mated to a 6 speed transmission.
This expected launch of Pulsar 400 SS and 200 SS reminds us of the simultaneous launch of KTM 390 and KTM 200 which are the bikes with whom Bajaj upcoming motorcycles are going to compete with. RC390 gets a Duke 390 is powered by a 4-stroke, single-cylinder, liquid cooled, 373 cc engine, which churns out 43 PS of power and 35 Nm of torque. KTM RC200 comes with a 4-stroke, single-cylinder, liquid cooled, 199 cc engine producing 25 PS of power and 19 Nm of torque.
Bajaj Pulsar 200 SS will further compete with Hero HX250R, KTM RC 200 and Yamaha R15. On the other hand, Pulsar 400 SS will compete with KTM RC 390 and Kawasaki Ninja 300. While the commuter segment Bajaj Platina is expected to be more refined than the current Platina which is powered by 99.27 cc, air-cooled engine which churns out 8 BHP of power and 8.05 Nm of torque, paired to a 4-speed transmission and it will compete with Hero Splendor and Hero Passion.
Bajaj 200 SS and 400 SS are most likely to hit the dealership in India by April 2015 at an expected price of over Rs. 1 lakh with 200 SS priced around 1.3 lakh and 400 SS priced around 1.6 lakh.
Source- MoneyControl
