|
 Bajaj Auto is marketing the RE60 as a more stable and comfortable
alternative to the three-wheeled autorickshaws ubiquitous on India's
roads even though it looks like a small hatchback car and is
expected to cost less.
Weight, top speed and other specifications, including safety
standards, mean the RE60 will not be classified as a car. But that
didn't stop executives from India's top automakers such as Tata
Motors <TAMO.NS> from comparing it to a car and finding its safety
features come up short.
Rajiv Bajaj, the company's managing director, insists the RE60 is
neither a car nor an autorickshaw. The government is even creating a
new classification category for the vehicle, which is expected to be
launched within months.
"In every market that a three-wheeler is available the quadricycle
should be relevant," Bajaj told Reuters in a phone interview.
"Because at the end of the day it provides a very logical upgrade
from a three-wheeler for people who want to pay a little more and
want to have the comfort and safety of four wheels, four doors, a
roof and seatbelts," he said.
In India, autorickshaws typically have no doors and a soft roof. The
vehicles are usually turned into taxis and known in many countries
as tuk-tuks.
The RE60 is part of a long-term expansion strategy by Bajaj to boost
sales growth at home and abroad.
The company is the world's largest autorickshaw maker and India's
second largest motorcycle maker, and sales of both these vehicles
have decelerated over the last two years, hit by falling demand in a
slowing Indian economy.
Bajaj's three-wheeler sales fell 6 percent in the 2012/13 financial
year compared to a 17 percent increase in the previous year and a 28
percent rise in 2010/11.
Motorcycle sales also showed a similar trend: they fell 2 percent in
2012/13 compared to a 13.2 percent gain in 2011/12 and a 35 percent
increase a year earlier.
Exports of motorbikes and autorickshaws account for more than a
third of Bajaj's sales. The company counts Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd
<MAHM.NS>, TVS Motor Company Ltd <TVSM.NS> and Italy's Piaggio <PIA.MI>
as competitors in the three-wheeler segment.
[to top of second column] |
SAFER, BUT NOT CHEAPER
The RE60 weighs 400 kilograms (880 pounds), about 100 kg more than
Bajaj's smallest autorickshaw and half as much as a small hatchback.
The engine, which can run on gasoline or compressed natural gas,
goes up to 70 kilometers per hour (about 40 miles per hour).
The vehicle is likely to be priced between an autorickshaw and a
small car. Analysts expect the RE60 to cost 200,000 rupees ($3,200),
more than the roughly 150,000 rupees for the most basic Bajaj
three-wheeler but less than the 270,000 rupees for India's
bestselling car, the Maruti Alto hatchback.
Bajaj spent 5.5 billion rupees ($88 million) developing the vehicle,
according to media reports. The company can initially make up to
5,000 vehicles a month and has been waiting for two years to get
them on India's roads.
The federal government is expected to allow quadricycles from
October 1.
Bajaj hopes the quadricycles will catch on in countries where
three-wheelers are widespread, and has sent samples for test runs in
Sri Lanka, Colombia and Kenya. Managing director Bajaj, however,
declined to give any sales forecasts.
Analysts said quadricycles are likely to have broader appeal than
the autorickshaws.
"Specifically, in cities in the next three to four years it could
replace the three-wheeler, primarily because it provides better
safety, as well as comfort as well as better fuel efficiency when
compared to three-wheelers," said Nitesh Sharma, an analyst with
brokerage Espirito Santo Securities.
($1 = 62.2275 Indian rupees)
(Editing by Tony Munroe and Miral Fahmy)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
