SME Times News Bureau | 13 Jul, 2012
Aiming to enhance
its pole position in the country's premium motorcycle space, Bajaj Auto - which
has a 47 percent equity stake in the Austria-based KTM Power Sports AG - plans
to take its synergic product development partnership further by introducing
"multiple products", a top company official said Thursday.
"The feedback for the KTM Duke 200, a bike that was launched in early
2012, has been very encouraging. We would be launching multiple products in the
KTM range soon for the domestic and global markets," said the company's
president (Motorcycles), K. Srinivas.
Srinivas, however, refused to give a timeframe for the launch of the new
products.
The company had picked up a 14.5 percent stake in KTM in 2007 for about Rs.300
crore and has been consistently hiking its stake by buying more shares from the
open market.
The Duke 200 is built by Bajaj at its Chakan manufacturing unit in Maharastra.
The company also exports the Duke 125 and 200 models of KTM to countries across
the world.
The company also hopes to consolidate its position in the sports and sports
commuter segment.
"With the launch of the new model of the Discover range we hope to
consolidate the sports commuter segment," said Srinivas at the launch of
the Discover 125 ST in West Bengal.
The company will also be expanding its manufacturing capacity from 4.25 million
bikes to 4.75 million by the end of this year. Currently it has three
manufacturing units - at Chakan and Aurangabad in Maharastra and Pant Nagar in
Uttarakhand.