Let’s play a game for a minute. Who is the third largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world? One of the Big Four maybe (Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, & Yamaha), that is after all what their name implies, right? Maybe you think it is a European manufacturer, like BMW or Triumph? If these were any of your answers, thank you for playing, but please try again.
With Japanese manufacturers closing their books on the 2011 fiscal year, the counting of the bikes sold worldwide has closed, and Bajaj Auto is now officially the world’s third largest motorcycle brand by volume. Behind only Honda (the world’s largest motorcycle brand) and Hero MotoCorp (India’s largest motorcycle brand), who are first and second respectively, Bajaj sold a total of 3.8 million units in 2011.
Make no mistake that its domestic market is a critical, large, and growing, but Bajaj’s success is not limited to India alone. Exporting 1.27 million units abroad, that figure from equates to over one-third of Bajaj’s sales coming from other markets, which helps Bajaj account for 10% of all motorcycles sold globally.
Leading these sales is the Bajaj Dream, which sold 1.5 million unit last year. Also helping the bottom line is Bajaj’s 47% ownership of KTM, which continues to find traction outside of its European borders. Looking to expand in the coming years, Bajaj hopes to account for 30% of the world’s motorcycle sales, and already is the market leader in 12 of the 35 countries it exports into.
While the American market continues to bicker over Harley-Davidsons vs. Metrics, Indian motorcycle manufacturers like Bajaj and Hero are quietly positioning themselves to be the next industry leaders worldwide.
Source: Bike Advice
…. and this is why I’m seriously considering a Bajaj Pulsar 135LS for my next bike.
And I am considering the Bajaj, ehmm KTM Duke 350.
I had a Bajaj 200cc bike while living in the Philippines. It was reliable and handled well and although the styling left a lot to be desired it was an excellent commuter and about $2000 brand new!
If they could start selling in mature markets and keep the price low…………….
I’ll take quality over quantity. Even Honda festoons their bikes with cheap plastic chrome panels and covers while using rust prone fittings. One can almost see the rusting occur after a wash. Much like the 24 inch rim crowd- it must look good because there is no substance on the inside. I left for Europe long ago.
They’ll never thrive unless they add an archaic v-twin in 47 different iterations of the same bike…
Who is the World's Third Largest Motorcycle Manufacturer? – http://t.co/5hE8tHRS #motorcycle
Electric manufacturers take note… Sell a bike for $3000, sell millions, sell one for $18,000 and sell fifty…
way to go bajaj. get that money.
Hero motor corp and Bajaj sell their bikes mainly in India at affordable prices. The average selling price is $1000 per bike. They are mostly 100 to 125 cc bikes and are purely commuter bikes with focus on mileage. These bikes will give you a mileage of approximately 136 miles per gallon. So they sell like hot cakes. Here only Indian companies dominate this segment. In-fact Here motor corp’s bikes use Honda’s motors including the scooter motor. Hero and Bajaj do not have engine capacity more than 225cc. Lets see how they fare if they upgrade to bigger capacities.
But if you come to 150 cc segment, there are equal offerings from all the manufacturers. Right now the hottest offering is from Yamaha, its called FZ-16 & FZ-S. Its a very successful model in India and outshines every other 150 cc bikes in India. You can check the link below,
http://www.yamaha-motor-india.com/product/fzs/index.html
http://www.yamaha-motor-india.com/product/fz16/index.html
The early Japanese bikes looked like crap and were cheap and reliable to start with too.Lets see where this will lead us eh?