The Bajaj Chetak was a popular Indian-made motor scooter produced by the Bajaj Auto company. The Chetak is named after Chetak, the legendary horse of Indian warrior Rana Pratap Singh. Originally based on Italian Vespa Sprint, Chetak was an affordable means of transportation for millions of Indian families for decades and is lovingly called Hamara Bajaj (Our Bajaj). Around 1980, the Vespa-licensed design was replaced with an all new in-house design that shared the same general appearance and style. During its heyday its chief competitor was LML NV made by LML India as a licensed copy of the Vespa PX 150. In the face of rising competition from bikes and cars, Chetak lost ground in India, and production was discontinued in 2006.

1. By:-
Pragya
prgyaratan1@gma
l.com
Product & Brand Management
Project
On
BAJAJ CHETAK

2. INTRODUCTION OF THE COMPANY
 BAJAJ CHETAK (1972-2005) : RIP
 LIFE CYCLE OF BAJAJ CHETAK
MARKET TRENDS
REASONS FOR FAILURE OF BAJAJ CHETAK
List of Topics

3. INTRODUCTION OF THE COMPANY
Bajaj Auto came into existence on November 29,1945 as
M/s Bachraj Trading Corporation Private Limited.
Bajaj Auto is a part of the Bajaj Group . It was founded
by Jamnalal Bajaj in Rajasthan.
It started off by selling imported two- and three-
wheelers in India.
In1959, it obtained license from the Government of
India to manufacture two- and three-wheelers and it
went public as Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) in1960.

4. It started producing at Waluj in Aurangabad. In1986,
it managed to produce and sell 500,000 vehicles in a
single financial year.
In1995, it rolled out its ten millionth vehicle and
produced and sold 1 million vehicles in a year.

5. BAJAJ CHETAK (1972-2005) : RIP
Bajaj has officially stopped the production of Bajaj
Chetak from December 2005. The company says that the
product no longer have any relevance to the customer. To
quote Rajiv bajaj " Any one who clings to the past is a
failure”
Chetak was an unavoidable dowry in 1970's and 80's.
The brand which was named after the legendary stallion
of the Rajput king Maharana Pratap, was known for the
reliability and sturdiness. The brand thrived during the
license raj with virtually no competition.

6. Bajaj Chetak had a huge brand equity . The brand had
the persona of a " work horse". With reasonable price
and the low maintenance cost made this product a huge
hit among the middle class Indians.
It was during 1990-91 that the brand began the journey
to the end.
Promoted along the base line " Hamara Bajaj", this was
the Indian Family vehicle .

7. LIFE CYCLE OF BAJAJ CHETAK
STAGE Ist: INTRODUCTION
The Bajaj group was founded in 1926 by Jamnalal Bajaj. In the mid 1940s, Bajaj Auto
Limited(BAL) started as an importer of two- and three-wheelers.
In 1959, the company secured a license from the Government of India (GoI) to
manufacture two- and three-wheelers.
In 1960, BTCL was renamed Bajaj Auto Ltd and in the same year it entered into a
technical collaboration with Piaggio for the manufacture of scooters.

8. With its collaboration with Piaggio coming to an end in the early 1970s, BAL
started manufacturing scooters under the Bajaj brand.
Description of Chetak
 The Chetak, BAL's first scooter model under the Bajaj brand, was
introduced in 1972.
 The Chetak, a geared scooter, had reigned over the Indian two-wheeler market
in the late 1970s to early 1990s.
 Starting Price Quoted in the start was roughly between Rs. 8000-9000/-In the
initial period, Bajaj Chetak was a two stroke engine model with an attractive look.

9. Lower maintenance and easy repairing are other advantages associated with this
model. Its four-stroke models had much more added specifications compared to
their two-stroke counterparts. Reduced fuel consumption, enhanced safety
standards and high-pick-up were the major features of the 4-stroke models.
 Higher resale value was another crucial factor behind the popularity of this
model. According to industry experts, resale value of the Chetak was much higher
compared its competitors including Vespa.
Early eighties to later nineties were the golden period for these scooters.
Introduction and popularity of motorcycles had a significant negative impact upon
the sale of all scooter models including Bajaj Chetak.

10. STAGE IInd: GROWTH PERIOD
There was a time when people had to wait hell lot of a time after prebooking their
Chetak.
The Launch of Bajaj Chetak was mainly targeted at economical Class and people
could afford it considering its parallel competition in the same segment market.
Late 70s had been the Golden period for the Bajaj scooters, especially the Chetak.
In 1977 Bajaj Auto claimed to have sold a lakh of Chetaks in just one Financial Year.

11. The main marketing strategy used by Bajaj Chetak was mainly targetting the emerging
middle class in India and adding the feeling of 'we' or the feeling of belongingness by
strong sentimental slogans like "Hamara Bajaj"..
Over 2 and a half decades until the halt of 1995 the company did not face any stiff
competition from any 2 wheeler market segment, apart from the introduction of minor
changes in its performance parameters meaning more augmented changes in the scooter
itself like colour some peripheral outer changes in parts.

12. STAGE IIIrd : MATURITY PERIOD
In the late 1990s, the Indian two-wheeler market witnessed a shift in consumer preferences.
The popularity of geared scooters began to wane while that of motorcycles soared.
A tough body, low maintenance and initial cost and good resale value are the key attributes
that are related the Chetak bearing trust seal from the house of Bajaj.
There were various reasons for the shift -India was undergoing a demographic change, with
the proportion of younger people in the population growing significantly; the economy was
growing, which increased the disposable incomes of the middle class; also, many newer
models of motorcycles, with improved designs and modern technology had become available
in the market.
While these changes were taking place in the market, the features of scooters, especially
those of the Bajaj Chetak, remained essentially unchanged.

13. STAGE IVth : DECLINE PERIOD
The primary reason is that the Brand forgot the customers.
 case of Marketing Myopia. The company failed to understand the changing perception
of the customers towards scooters. Rather than looking at the customers, the company
focused on influencing Government to block the opening up of economy. Bajaj never did
anything with the product. For 40 years Chetak had the same look, same quality and
style.
During the mid nineties the company realised lately that the segment has shifted to
motorcycles. Scooters were no longer the option.

14. 13.9%
5.2%
80.6%
0.3%
Scooters
Mopeds
Motorcycles
Electric two-
wheelers
Source: SIAM
Two-wheelers– segment-wise share of production
(2008–09)
erview … (2/2) MARKET TRENDS

15. REASONS FOR FAILURE OF BAJAJ CHETAK
The primary reason is that the Brand forgot the customers. Case of Marketing Myopia.
The company failed to understand the changing perception of the customers towards
scooters. Rather than looking at the customers, the company focused on influencing
Government to block the opening up of economy. Bajaj never did anything with the
product. For 40 years Chetak had the same look, same quality and style.
Bajaj never was serious about product development. The R&D spent for a long time was
a miniscule 1%. The average cycle time for the new product development was 4-5 years
compared to 2-3 years of Japanese competitors.
 Even after the opening up of economy, the scooter segment did not witness much
competition.
The players like Vespa did not had much of success in this segment. Kinetic Honda
managed to carve a niche with its gearless scooters. Another segment which was growing
was the scooterette segment which was dominated by TVS scooty. The players like Vespa
did not had much of success in this segment.

16.  Bajaj never seriously looked at customer perception about Chetak. The product had
serious problems like starting trouble and riding comfort. The " Tilting the chetak to
the side for starting " was a common joke. Did the company do anything for that ?
No There was nothing wrong with the Promotion. " Hamara Bajaj " and " No one can
beat a Bajaj " were famous base lines. There was nothing wrong with distribution and
the pricing was very reasonable. The major problem was in the first P : Product.

17. THANK YOU
FOR YOUR
ATTENTION….