Bajaj Auto, India’s fourth largest motorcycle manufacturer is constantly feeling the heat in the market. The Indian manufacturer has shuffled the line-up without much attention in the past year. Bajaj has discontinued as many as five motorcycles in the Indian market in last one year. What are the reasons behind the discontinuation of these motorcycles? Let’s find out.
Bajaj Pulsar AS 150
Bajaj discontinued the AS 150 officially in February 2017. It was the cheapest adventure bike available in the Indian market but the sales were as much as Bajaj would have liked. The AS 150 was discontinued due to the slow sales in the market. The AS 150 also did not offer anything special apart from the half fairing to make it worthy of the highways. The half fairing was added to create a barrier between the rider and the wind blast. However, the market did not accept the bike as a touring machine and the sales never saw a substantial rise.
Bajaj Pulsar AS 200
Bajaj also offered a powerful version of the AS or Adventure Sports in the form of AS 200. The bike had a similar layout as the AS 150 but was powered by a more powerful engine. There are many reasons for the downfall of the AS 200. The bike did not look as aggressive as the Pulsar motorcycles should look.
The Pulsar 200 NS became a popular choice because of its immaculate styling and it took away the buyers of the AS 200. The market also was not mature enough to give heed to touring motorcycles at the time of its launch, which made sure that the AS 200 never became as popular as the Pulsar 200 NS in the market.
Bajaj Pulsar 150 NS
The Bajaj Pulsar 150 NS was offered alongside the Bajaj Pulsar 150. The Naked Sports tag was not enough for the bike to become successful in the market. The Pulsar 150 was cheaper in the price and offered the true Pulsar look, whereas, the Pulsar 150 NS offered a much modern look.
The segment also saw competition from the Suzuki Gixxer and the Honda Hornet 160R, which were almost similarly priced as the Pulsar 150 NS but offered more power. Bajaj decided to launch the Pulsa 160 NS to take on the higher powered Gixxer and the Hornet in the segment and replace the Pulsar 150 NS.
Bajaj Pulsar 135 LS
This is the latest motorcycle that has been discontinued from the market. The Pulsar 135 LS or Light Sports was the most affordable Pulsar in the market. However, Bajaj did not update the bike for a long time and carried the same design while the competition was launching more aggressive and better bikes.
Also, the ABS will become mandatory for all the 125cc after April 2019. This will put the Bajaj Pulsar 135 LS in the mandatory ABS segment. The additional feature will increase the price of the motorcycle it will become quite expensive than the other 125cc bikes in the segment. Both these reasons are enough for Bajaj to cull the low-selling model in India.
Bajaj Avenger 150
Bajaj replaced the Avenger 150 in the market with a higher powered Avenger 180. Both the engine blocks are same so Bajaj did not have to do much to replace the engine. The primary reason for this was the launch of Suzuki Intruder 155, which was priced much higher than the Bajaj Pulsar 150 but offered same level of power. Bajaj launched the Avenger 180 as a marketing strategy to offer more for a lesser price in the segment.
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