Bajaj Pulsar

Product Description: Bajaj Pulsar

Introduction

Bajaj Pulsar is a bike brand owned by Bajaj Auto. Bajaj Pulsar was developed by the engineering division of Bajaj Auto in association Tokyo R&D. Before the introduction of the Bajaj Pulsar, the focus of the industry was to manufacture small fuel efficient bikes in the capacity of 80 — 100 cc to cater to the needs of the exceedingly price sensitive Indian customers. However, recent launches of 150 cc+ bikes in the sub 250 cc markets have shown that such bikes are also in demand in this highly competitive market.

The Launch

Capitalizing on this fact, Bajaj motorcycles launched the Bajaj Pulsar motorcycle incorporating the latest technology and higher engine volumes. With Bajaj Pulsar, Bajaj Auto has been successful in creating a new segment in the Indian motorcycle market catering to the younger generation that demands more powerful bikes at affordable prices.

The Bajaj Pulsar is just the bike that exactly fits this definition and need. It's a cool bike that delivers pulsating performance and has throbbing looks to entice and charge up the young and definitely male Indian rider.

The original novelty

The original Bajaj Pulsar was launched in 2001 that featured 150 or 180 cc air cooled four-stroke engine along with other features like disc brakes, which were considerably novel introductions in the market then. The 180 cc model came with electric start and twin-tone horn; both of these were optionals in the 150 cc version.

The Market

1. 1.      The Corporation
   
2. 2.      The Customers
   
3. 3.      The Competition
   

The Corporation:

Bajaj Auto is a major Indian automobile manufacturer. It is India's largest and the world's 4th largest two- and three-wheeler maker. It is based in Pune, Maharashtra, with plants in Akurdi and Chakan (near Pune),Waluj (near Aurangabad) and Pantnagar in Uttaranchal. Bajaj Auto makes and exports motorscooters, motorcycles and the auto rickshaw.

The Forbes Global 2000 list for the year 2005 ranked Bajaj Auto at 1946.

Over the last decade, the company has successfully changed its image from a scooter manufacturer to a two wheeler manufacturer. Its product range encompasses Scooterettes, Scooters and Motorcycles. Its real growth in numbers has come in the last four years after successful introduction of a few models in the motorcycle segment.

The company is headed by Rahul Bajaj who is worth more than US$1.5 billion

Company's history

Bajaj Auto came into existence on November 29, 1945 as M/s Bachraj Trading Corporation Private Limited. It started off by selling imported two- and three-wheelers in India. In 1959, it obtained license from the Government of India to manufacture two- and three-wheelers and it went public in 1960. In 1970, it rolled out its 100,000th vehicle. In 1977, it managed to produce and sell 100,000 vehicles in a single financial year. In 1985, it started producing at Waluj in Aurangabad. In 1986, it managed to produce and sell 500,000 vehicles in a single financial year. In 1995, it rolled out its ten millionth vehicle and produced and sold 1 million vehicles in a year.

According to the authors of Globality: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything, Bajaj has grown operations in 50 countries by creating a line of value-for-money bikes targeted to the different preferences of entry-level buyers with quality such that Kawasaki buys Bajaj products for some of its markets.

Timeline of new releases

Products

Some of the models that Bajaj makes (or has made including prototypes) are:

Scooters

Bajaj Kristal DTSi

Cars

Bajaj Lite concept, Bajaj ULC (ultra-low cost)- the Tata Nano competitor.

Motorcycles

Bajaj CT 100	Bajaj Discover 135cc DTS-i	Bajaj Pulsar 180 DTSi
Bajaj Platina	Bajaj XCD 125 DTS-Si	Bajaj Pulsar 200 DTSi
Bajaj Discover 110cc	Bajaj Discover DTS-i 135cc	Bajaj Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi
Bajaj Discover DTS-i 125cc	Bajaj Pulsar 150 DTSi	Bajaj Avenger

Upcoming Models

Bajaj Sonic

Bajaj Discover 150

Bajaj XCD 125 sprint

Discontinued Models

Bajaj Sunny	Bajaj Wave	Bajaj Kawasaki 4s Champion
Bajaj Chetak	Bajaj Legend	Bajaj Kawasaki KB 100 RTZ
Bajaj Cub	Bajaj Bravo	Bajaj Boxer
Bajaj Super	Kawasaki Eliminator	Bajaj Caliber
Bajaj Saffire	Bajaj Kawasaki Wind 125	Bajaj Wind

The Customer

The two-wheeler market in India is the biggest contributor to the automobile industry with a size of Rs.100,000 million. The two-wheeler market in India comprises of 3 types of vehicles, namely motorcycles, scooters, and mopeds.

Foreign collaborations have been playing a major role in the growth of the Indian two-wheeler market, and most of them are Japanese firms. These have been produced by combining two or more two-wheeler segments. Foreign firms have already taken initiatives to own their two-wheeler subsidiaries in India.

Among the 3 segments of the Indian two wheeler market, major growth trends have been seen in the motorcycle segment over the last four to five years. One good reason for such increase in demand for motorcycles is due to its resistance and balance even on bad road conditions.

Having classified the motorcycle brands into economy, executive, and premium segments, Bajaj stands as the leader in the economy segment, Hero Honda leads in the executive segment, and there is a competition in the premium segment between Hero Honda and Bajaj.

The following are the main factors that affect two-wheeler sales in India:

·         Increase in credit and financing for auto vehicles - Two-wheeler loans and financing has been on the rise.

·         Increase in consumer's salary - Due to opportunities offered by multinationals the disposable incomes of salaried individuals have increase manifold.

·         Constant petrol prices - Today, the government of India has been working on reducing subsidies on kerosene and diesel which will keep petrol prices at more or less the same level.

·         Delay in initiation of Mass Transport System - Probably a future threat to the two-wheeler market, the implementation of the mass transport system has been delayed.

However, the two-wheeler market in India is a fast growing market due to its technological advancements in product manufacturing and emphasis on design innovation.

TWO WHEELERS DOMESTIC SALES TREND
Category	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Scooters	908268	825648	886295	922428	908159
Motorcycles	2887194	3647493	4170445	4964753	5815417
Mopeds	408263	338985	307509	322584	332741
Grand Total	4203725	4812126	5364249	6209765	705631

 

 

 

TWO WHEELERS PRODUCTION TREND
Category	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Scooters	937506	848434	935279	987498	1020013
Motorcycles	2906323	3876175	4355168	5193894	6201214
Mopeds	427498	351612	332294	348437	379574
Grand Total	4271327	5076221	5622741	6529829	7600801

 

TWO WHEELERS EXPORTS TREND
Category	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Scooters	28332	32566	53687	60699	83873
Motorcycles	56880	123725	187287	277123	386202
Mopeds	18971	23391	24078	28585	43181
Grand Total	104183	179682	265052	366407	513256

 

The Competition

In 1999, Hero Honda, the leading motorcycle manufacturer in India, launched the CBZ 156-cc motorcycle - and the Indian motorcycle market was never the same again.

Following this, all major players went on a 'motorcycle launching spree.’ Bajaj Auto: the second largest player launched Bajaj Kawasaki (BK) Boxer AT and CT. This was followed by Machismo A350 and Lightning 535 from Royal Enfield, Brat (March 1999) and Kinetic Challenger (September 1999) from Kinetic Engineering Ltd. The launches continued unabated in 2000.

Hero Honda launched Joy, Passion and a remodeled Street. Bajaj launched KB Eliminator, KB Caliber Chroma, KB Aspire and KB Acer in October 2000. Lohia Motors Limited (LML), known for its scooters, launched two motorcycles Energy and Adreno in August 2000. Escorts Yamaha launched Crux and TVS group launched Fiero in 2000.

In August 2001, Yamaha Motors released Crux R. In September 2001, Kinetic Engineering launched the GF 125 and GF 150. In October 2001, Bajaj launched the Pulsar and TVS launched the TVS Victor 110-cc.

Note: The highlighted bikes, CBZ (Hero Honda), LML Adreno, TVS Fiero were three major competitors for Bajaj Pulsar.

Though, Bajaj Pulsar was launched in a segment of 150 cc bikes. It moved ahead and captured the 125 and 100 cc segments as well to certain extent firstly due to its economy and secondly due to the easy finance available during that period.

The 6M Model

Mission

The original Pulsar came with a 150 cc or 180 cc air-cooled, single-cylinder, petrol, spark-ignited four-stroke engine. They featured a single spark plug to ignite the air-fuel mixture fed from a carburettor, simple spring shock absorbers, round headlamp dome and 1,235 mm wheelbase. Disc brakes, as standard equipment was a novelty in Indian motorcycles of the early 2000s. Other standard features were parking lights and an aircraft-type fuel tank lid. The 180 cc version came with Electric Start (ES) and twin-tone horn, both of which were optional equipment on the 150 cc version.

The mission was to capture the premium segment (150 cc) and simultaneously create a mid-luxury segment (180cc), which it did successfully.

Secondly, it left some design upgradable spaces for further launches, that is to take the product further.

Also, they created complete range of three brands of motorcycles and in this way eliminated all the previous versions of other motorcycles, which served them in two ways – firstly reduce inventory and secondly gave way to umbrella branding.

Message

1.      Definitely male

2.      Digital Biking

3.      Free biking

4.      Distinctly Ahead (Which also happens to be corporate tagline)

It was not only the bike's performance that triggered the brand becoming an icon; a major part of the success was due to the classic advertising campaign by O&M. According to agencyfaqs, the birth of the "Definitely Male” campaign is interesting. The creative honchos found the new product from Bajaj distinctly different. It was Bajaj's first bike without Kawasaki label. The new bike was an R&D and design marvel. Pulsar was designed by the renowned design house Tokyo R&D. O&M knew that the communication of this brand should also be different. Starting with lot of ideas, O&M stuck upon the Big Idea of India's He-Bike. Although lot of bike take the persona of Macho bikes it was more oriented towards being "sexy". The Big Idea was to position the bike as World's first bike endowed with a Sex (Gender).Thus born the classic campaign of all times "Definitely Male". The campaign together with the design and performance catapulted the brand into stratospheric sales level.

The brand had its share of marketing flaws also. According to reports, Bajaj reassigns its media duties to two brands O&M and Leo Burnett; every six months. When DTSi was launched, the creative duty was assigned to Leo Burnett. Leo Burnett did a big mistake on the brand by changing the positioning of "Definitely Male" to "Digital Biking". Although the ads were successful in conveying the technological superiority of DTSi and making that acronym popular, it deleted the most successful tagline from the brand's elements.

After ruling the premium bike segment, Bajaj is taking their brand to another level. Bajaj recently launched Bajaj Pulsar 200 DTSi to take on the competition from Hero Honda and the like. The new Pulsar boasts of spruced up engine, new digital console and new style. Pulsar is definitely getting better.

Pulsar 200 is being launched with a new campaign revolving round the concept of Free Biking. Free Biking (as defined by the brand Pulsar) is all about tackling obstacles. According to company officials, its about how you ride rather than where you ride. The ad’s made by O&M is filmed at Hawana Cuba (expensive). Set to pulsating Arabian music, the ad shows how two Pulsar riders discover new route when their main way is blocked by traffic jam.

Sadly Bajaj is no longer using its blockbuster tagline "Definitely Male" but instead is using the corporate brand tagline " Distinctly Ahead". Bajaj earlier had another corporate tagline "Inspiring Confidence" when it completely redesigned its corporate logo and brand.

Market

Before the launch of Pulsar, Indian bike market was divided broadly into Economy,Executive and Premium Bikes. In 1999 Hero Honda created a new segment of 150 cc performance segment with its CBZ. But Pulsar came and gave a new life into the Performance segment. Although not a pioneer, Pulsar made the performance segment one of the fastest growing segment in the two wheeler market.

Bajaj targeted the 18-24 with Pulsar but later found that the brand appealed to a much older audience. This helped Bajaj to change its target audience to 21-35 years.

Pulsar came in two variants: 180 cc and 150 cc where 180 cc excited the performance bikers, 150 cc was for the mileage conscious ones. The 150cc variant took lot of customers away from the executive segment to the performance segment.

Unlike its old ways of doing things, Bajaj did not rest with the laurels. Pulsar got undivided attention from the company. In 2003, Bajaj launched its new technology DTSI. The increased performance of the brand took Pulsar to greater heights. 2004 and 2005 saw some cosmetic changes in the brand which excited the customers and thus cementing Pulsar's position in the market.

The Pulsar coincides with the emergence of India as an important economic power. Apart from dominating the domestic sales charts and the hearts of the new breed of born again Indian bikers, the pulsar has also made the “Made in India” tag proud on foreign shores. The Pulsar is a very popular two wheeler in countries like Colombia and Mexico. Recently Bajaj made its foray in the Indonesian market with its 180 cc Pulsar.

Medium

Medium used were all.

They used all – print, TV, ads, sponsorships, events, associations etc.

TV: mostly shown its abilities, more visual appeal

Print: gave the specifications etc. (Information)

Other media: stayed in the minds of consumers.

Auto magazines: Reviews from the experts, experts and critic reviews.

 

Money

Patent:

Bajaj Auto holds an Indian patent for the DTSi technology. The Alfa Romeo Twin-Spark engines, the BMW F650 Funduro which was sold in India from 1995 to 1997 also had a twin-spark plug technology, and the Rotax motorcycle engines,more recently Honda's iDSI Vehicle engines use a similar arrangement of two spark-plugs. However very few small capacity engines did eventually implement such a scheme in their production prototypes.

Ad cost:

Data not available.

R&D cost:

An estimated Rs.100crores has been invested in developing Pulsar and the project took 36 months from conceptualization to commercial production of the vehicle.

 

 

 

 

Measurement

	Apr – Dec 1999-2000	Apr – Dec 2000-2001	Apr – Dec 2001-2002	% change
Motorcycles	12,26,479	15,44,007	20,56,828	33.2
Bajaj Auto Ltd.	2,87,188	4,07,413	5,02,135	23.2
Hero Honda Motors Ltd.	5,29,916	7,46,919	10,16,626	36.1
Kinetic Engg. Ltd.	-	-	32,921	-
LML Limited	-	13,169	33,565	154.8
Royal Enfield Motor	17,106	15,369	15,954	3.8
TVS Motor India Ltd.	2,37,560	2,63,686	3,00,593	13.9
Yamaha Motor India (P) Ltd.	1,54,709	97,451	1,55,034	-94.3

 

	Apr- Jan Cuml 04-05	Apr - Jan Cuml 05-06	% Market share	% Growth Y2Y	Apr - Jan Exports
Motorcycles
Hero Honda	21,17,133	23,93,934	50.1	13.1	79,291
Bajaj	11,08,486	14,28,810	29.9	28.9	1,25,101
TVS	5,27,426	6,10,207	12.8	15.7	46,160
Yamaha	1,84,022	1,68,248	3.5	-8.6	46,042
Honda MSI	37,310	80,888	1.7	116.8	2,353
LML	66,558	54,985	1.1	-17.4	7,949
Kinetic	35,297	21,726	0.4	-38.4	4,984
Royal Enfield	22,763	23,000	0.5	1.0	1,873
Majestic	3,944	119	-	-97.0	0
TOTAL	41,02,939	47,81,917	100.0	16.5	3,13,753

 

Market Share

Year ended 31 March	Market (nos.)	Market growth	BAL (nos.)	BAL's growth	BAL's market share
2005	5,217,996	20.9%	1,449,710	41.6%	27.8%
2004	4,316,777	14.9%	1.023,551	17.9%	23.7%
2003	3,757,125	31.3%	868,138	32.3%	23.1%
2002	2,861,375	40.7%	656,018	55.4%	22.9%
2001	2.033,196	-	422,016	-	20.8%

 

 

Conclusion

The campaign was a 360 degree campaign, it covered all the important aspects- the technical aspects, knowledge aspect, space for future, future base creation, retaining as well as gainins new customers, plus there always was a link between pulsar campaign with the other products, as pulsar was kept their flagship product since the launch.