Managing Director of Bajaj Auto Rajiv Bajaj has called Discover 100-cc as the “biggest blunder of his career”. He said that the 125-cc variant gave a breather as it offered both, the mileage and a little fun. He said that had Bajaj not launched the 100-cc bike, it wouldn’t still remain at number two position in terms of bike volumes in the country.
Mint quoted Rajiv Bajaj as saying,“Greed came in. Marketing people said if the 125-cc Discover sells so much then how many would a 100-cc Discover sell? We went ahead and made the 100-cc Discover. We lost our position and five years later we lost our performance too. We started off as a point of difference, with a different perception and a USP, but we ended up being a ‘me too’ product. Me too is bad in life and marketing.”
He also said that the company is looking to enter into manufacture of e-vehicles by 2019. They are looking at cheaper, affordable variants that can be launched to the public.
Mint quoted him as saying, “We could have made a Tesla on two-wheels or a Tesla on three-wheels and created different news. We will try and do that in 2019 now.”