SAL to launch new four wheelers

PUNE: There is a new aggression in the already aggressive Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL). With younger blood set to take on the mantle of managing director from Rahul Bajaj, who will remain chairman from April 1, the two- and three-wheeler is looking to change its very description. It wants to be a player in the entire automotive segment, all the way to four wheels.
BAL wants to go beyond the tag of ''two and three-wheeler'' to become the manufacturer of a "light, four-wheel transportation to move people and goods." That is all the "cryptic" description Rajiv Bajaj is prepared to give.
In the bargain, it has taken up the challenge of Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Motors, to manufacture that "four wheel" vehicle at Rs. 1 lakh.
"The person most likely to crack that Rs. 1 lakh car would be a two-and three-wheeler manufacturer rather than a four-wheeler. because you have to make the car and make money on it as well!" said Rajiv Bajaj, managing director-designate, BAL.
Making a vehicle at Rs. 1 lakh would not be difficult, Mr Bajaj said but making money on it is the real challenge. He should know: BAL is determined to make money on whatever it does, having done so even in the five years, from 1998-2003, when the automotive industry took a beating.
Mr Bajaj pointed to the supplier base of the two- and three-wheeler segment. This supplier is structured to supply cheaper than the car component supplier base.
"It is at a concept stage, we are nowhere as advanced as Tata Motors, nor are we anywhere as close as they to bringing out a vehicle. They have declared a three year time frame. But we definitely have the intention to develop a light, four-wheel transportation to move people and goods," Mr Bajaj said, declining to add to that "cryptic" description.
He ruled out collaboration with near neighbour Tata Motors on the project on the grounds, "Who will bring what to the table," adding, "we are very close in skills and ambitions; we are too alike to attract. In fact, likes repel."
The idea, Mr Bajaj said, was to take the existing two- and three-wheeler knowledge within the company and use it to extend the product line. After all, 1 litre motorcylce engines are not very different from the one used in the Maruti 800, he pointed out.
The product extension will mean capacity utilisation for BAL, whose "mother plant" at Akurdi, near here, is hugely under-utilised at present.
It may be recalled that the senior Bajaj had toyed with the idea, first, of taking up Ashok Leyland and later, the government stake in Maruti Udyog Ltd, when divestment was the talk.