Bajaj Auto to launch new Chetak e2W in May, expand stores by 3x in 3-4 months | Autocar Professional

In a bid to sustain the electric vehicle adoption amid reducing demand subsidy, Bajaj Auto plans to introduce more accessible electric scooters in the market. The automaker will launch a new mass-market electric scooter under the Chetak brand in May while the company plans to expand its retail footprint by three times over the next couple of months. 

“The product upgrade in the fourth quarter was very well accepted. We will be launching a new product by May,” Bajaj Auto Executive Director Rakesh Sharma told reporters in a post-earnings call today. 

Bajaj Auto sells electric scooters through the Chetak brand and its portfolio currently has two variants – Chetak Urbane 2024 and Chetak Premium 2024. The Chetak Urbane has a starting ex-showroom price of Rs 1.23 lakh, while the Chetak Premium comes with a starting price of Rs 1.47 lakh.

When asked about the new product’s pricing, Sharma said: “We hope to attack the mass segment(with the new model). I cannot share the price, but it is not going to be a premium offering.” He noted that it would be a “more mass-appeal” product. The new model is likely to come with a smaller kWh battery and a hub motor.

Automakers sold over 944,000 electric two-wheelers in India during the financial year 2024, as per the data available from the Vahan portal. Bajaj Auto, which entered the EV market in January 2020, sold 106,431 Chetak e-scooters in FY24 and the company’s market share improved to 14 percent.

Data from SIAM shows that Bajaj has clocked a 3x growth in Chetak dispatches with 115,702 units during FY24 on a year-on-year basis. 

“Significant investments on competitiveness and capabilities, coupled with impactful interventions on product innovation, network expansion (now in 164 cities) and brand activation are yielding results and positioning the business (Chetak) well for further scale up,” the company said in a press release.

Hero MotoCorp is also set to introduce two new electric scooters under its Vida brand in the current quarter. One is likely to be an affordable electric scooter priced around Rs 1 lakh or less, while the second one could be in the mid-segment priced around Rs 1.23-1 lakh.

Chetak is currently available in 164 cities across the country through some 200 stores. Bajaj Auto is planning to expand the number of stores to around 600 in the next three to four months. “We are expanding our footprint quite aggressively – from our 200 stores to almost 600 stores in the next 3-4 months,” Sharma said.