Bajaj raring to oust Hero Honda from its south Delhi bastion

The rivalry between two-wheeler majors Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto just got more intense. After being at the receiving end of slackening demand

The rivalry between two-wheeler majors Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto just got more intense. After being at the receiving end of slackening demand and losing out to the market leader in the race for market share in the last four months, the Pune-based manufacturer stormed the Hero Honda bastion today, opening up a showroom right next to its corporate office.

While all eyes were on Bajaj, which not only brought the premium product Pro-biking concept to the capital but also launched a high-end 220cc Pulsar, Hero Honda made sure that its presence at south Delhi’s high profile Basant Lok area did not go unnoticed. The area, which till yesterday was Hero Honda’s stronghold, was resplendent with Karizma and CBZ Xtreme posters all around, which betrayed the acrimony between the two companies.

“It is just a matter of co-incidence that our showroom is right next to Hero Honda’s office. We wanted to open up a Pro-biking showroom as it will house Bajaj’s high end 180cc and above bikes which we think will cater to the tastes of the people who frequent this place. As for Hero Honda, there is always healthy competition between rivals,” said Bajaj Pro-biking showroom manager Sharad Mishra.

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While Hero Honda was tight-lipped about the development, Bajaj Auto Ltd managing director Rajiv Bajaj announced the company’s grand plans to outwit competition in future. “We have yielded some market share to Hero Honda in the 100cc category as we chose profitability over values. We will try and upgrade the market to better quality products while ensuring that out bottom-lines are not hit,” Bajaj said.

There are currently seven Pro-biking showrooms in the country and the company said that these will exclusively host high-end bikes with engine capacities of over 180cc. Bajaj currently has four bikes in this category to Hero Honda’s single offering, Karizma. “Though they are competing for the same market, they have chosen divergent strategies. While Bajaj is an undisputed leader of premium end bikes with runaway successes in the Pulsar range, Hero Honda continues to dominate the volumes game with its 100cc Splendor/ Passion bikes,” an industry analyst explained.

While the gap between the two companies has widened in the last six months — in stark contrast to the situation a year ago when it was at an all time low — Bajaj believes that its new platform will do the trick by getting it back in the game. “We are currently doing 165,000-170,000 bikes a month but we will launch a bike based on a new platform by September, which should do 50,000 units a month. This in turn will take us above 200,000 units a month. The new bike will be in the Rs 40,000 price range,” Bajaj said. Hero Honda currently does about 230,000 units a month.

If that happens, its showroom in Basant Lok may have had a big role to play.

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