Bajaj Motors is set to launch a new electric vehicle (EV) production line at their plant in Akurdi, Pune.
In an interview, Bajaj Motors CEO Rajiv Bajaj said they hope to manufacture 5,000 Chetak scooters every month with a peak capacity of five lakh units per annum.
“If we look at our journey over the last 32 years – from being essentially a domestic company that made just Vespa scooters to a global company that is now making world-class motorcycles, and the most valuable two-wheeler company in the world, we can be justifiably proud of the distance we have traveled in these years. As far as the Chetak itself is concerned, work started on it more than three years ago and we launched it in 2019,” he said.
He said it was always in their mind to have a Chetak-specific facility and by Chetak. “I mean it will be a brand that will over time offer a whole portfolio of products for different segments that would be rolled out in the next few years. There are three keywords for this facility – focus, integration, and agility. It is entirely focused on electric vehicles, and we have done it very smartly. We haven’t gone and acquired new land and built a new facility. We have leveraged our existing resources and made them relevant to the future,” he said.
Bajaj said even for 2030, the pundits are not predicting a penetration rate for EVs over 30 percent. “For a company like ours, which has a strong existing business, we can’t just throw the baby out of the bathwater. We have to keep the show going; it is on the back of the strength of this actually that we will build our future in electric. So, in that sense, no, we will continue to invest and make efforts towards ICE powertrain products and technologies,” he said.
