Bajaj Auto May Enter The Electric Scooter Business With A New Sub-Brand Called 'Urbanite'

Homegrown auto maker Bajaj has been vocal time and again about its intent to bring electric offerings to the Indian market. However, it was previously believed that the company will be more focused towards electric motorcycles, considering its lack of interest in the automatic scooter segment. It looks like this is not the case though.

Rajiv Bajaj, Bajaj Auto Managing Director, has now confirmed that the company is not interested in conventional IC engine scooters. He further added that the company is working on being the Tesla of the Indian market with its two-wheeler products. Hence if and when Bajaj Auto plans to bring in scooters in the country, we can safely assume that they would be electric.

To achieve this, Bajaj will be coming up with a stand alone two-wheeler brand as per reports. The brand is expected to be named ¡®Urbanite¡¯, following the urban appeal of its electric products. If the reports turn out to be true, the brand can make its appearance on the Indian automotive landscape within this year. It is expected to have its own dedicated retail stores pan India.

Rajiv Bajaj, MD-Bajaj Auto Ltd (Image: Reuters)

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Now don¡¯t be mistaken as even Urbanite has electric bikes in its portfolio in the long run, following on Bajaj¡¯s aggressive plans to have electric drivetrains in every two-wheeler product. But the brand is most likely to start with an electric scooter first. Some design leaks for the same are also allegedly doing the rounds on the internet and if they are correct, the electric scooter from Urbanite might come in a retro classic design carrying all the modernistic features like a coloured TFT display, infotainment and connectivity options and more.

Apart from electric scooters, Bajaj Auto is eyeing all the categories of vehicles for an electric drivetrain offering. Back in December, Rajiv Bajaj had mentioned that the company is targeting to roll out two, three as well as four-wheelers in both personal and commercial spaces latest by 2020. With these products, the company also wants to gain 20 to 25 percent of market share by the time.

Reuters

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The move is in line with the current EV practices in the country. India¡¯s EV culture is already being dominated by electric two-wheelers and as the offerings keep on increasing, the shift away from IC engines is only going to get accelerated. The auto industry will need to keep some India centric solutions to a few problems associated with EVs handy though. Charging for instance, should not be issue, irrespective of the location in which these two-wheelers are being used.