India To The World: KTM, Husqvarna Will Build Electric Scooters Using New Bajaj Chetak Platform

As Bajaj Auto pursues electrification for its two-wheelers in the Indian market, its electric vehicle platform will now help its partners do the same. As per a recent statement by the company¡¯s managing director Rajiv Bajaj, KTM and Husqvarna will share the e-scooter platform that Bajaj recently came up with.

To recall, the modular EV platform by Bajaj Auto came into being for the revival of the iconic Chetak brand by the company. Only last month, Bajaj Auto announced an electric iteration of the Chetak scooter, naming it Chetak, as a part of its potential electric scooters to be launched in the near future under a new umbrella of ¡°Bajaj Urbanite¡±. Bajaj Auto will begin deliveries of the Chetak from January 2020 starting from Pune.

The same platform will now power offerings from Bajaj¡¯s partners as well. As Rajiv Bajaj puts it "The best way to be a global company is to produce platforms which are modular and flexible on one hand and on the other should be leveraged by different brands.¡± He further confirmed, ¡°going forward, we can use this platform for both KTM and Husqvarna scooters."

KTM E-Speed Electric Moped Concept (Representative Image)

Notably, Husqvarna is yet to mark its entry in India, which can be expected in the first half of next year. KTM, meanwhile is set with a local production of its vehicles in India and can easily scale it to include electric scooters using the Bajaj¡¯s platform.

Further to the shared EV platform, Rajiv Bajaj even confirmed that KTM is already working on a product out of it.

What can we expect from KTM?

While not much has been revealed about the said electric scooters, a general notion is that they will be more performance oriented and throw up bigger numbers than the Bajaj Urbanite offerings, to be in line with KTM¡¯s persona. Rajiv Bajaj acknowledges this, saying "So you can imagine if this has to be a KTM scooter, it has to be ready to race¡±.

A similar case goes for Husqvarna, fondly referred to as Husky, with its unique two-wheeler designs. Essentially, the platform will be serving three brands simultaneously to produce tailor-made vehicles as per their requirements. The different brands and models will then ¡°progressively be rolled out," Bajaj said.

Bajaj Auto and KTM had announced a partnership for such electric scooters earlier this year. As per it, the two auto majors will be working on a serial production project for electric two-wheelers having the power output of 3 to 10 kW (48 volt). The product portfolio of such EVs will include scooters, mopeds as well as small mopeds. The vehicles will be manufactured and sold under both the brands.

As of now, the idea is to produce the KTM electric scooters in Bajaj Auto¡¯s Chakan plant, which played a monumental role in propelling global sales of the brand and put it on top of the list of premium motorcycle makers, beating Harley Davidson in the process. The e-scooters can then be exported to international markets including Europe, America and China. Within India, the EV offerings will be sold through KTM¡¯s own dealerships.

Husqvarna might follow suit, i.e. as and when it decides to unveil its products for the Indian market. Excitement is aplenty, as the Swedish two-wheeler manufacturer has been gearing up for its launch in the country. At one point, Rajiv Bajaj mentioned the brand to have around 6 vehicles bound for India, further adding that it will potentially be an even bigger asset than KTM has been for Bajaj.

(With inputs from PTI)