Bajaj Mulling Over its Ultra Cheap Car Project
Bajaj had announced that it will introduce its ultra cheap car in the Indian market, soon after the Nano was launched. The car is coded as ULC and a feasibility study is underway to study the economic and technical feasibility of such a project in India.
''The techno-economic feasibility for the passenger 4-wheeler will be evaluated by Bajaj-Renault-Nissan for a final decision, leading to firming up of the co-operation parameters among partners and a suitable JV agreement,'' according to the company.
Bajaj will build this car in association with Nissan and Renault in India. The USP for selling this car will be its fuel economy as Bajaj promised that this car will deliver the best mileage, exceeding any other small car in the country and will be the most fuel efficient car in India. It stated the emphasis will be on the fuel economy and not the car's price. The car will be built at Bajaj's Chakan plant near Pune with an initial capacity of producing 250,000 units annually.
Bajaj is also revamping the car's design which was originally designed by Renault. The new design will take into consideration aerodynamic aspect and other features that will enable car to deliver better mileage.
[Via: cartradeindia]
Bajaj, Renault may go separate ways on the ULC car project
The proposed Bajaj-Renault partnership for an ultra low cost (ULC) car could be headed for trouble already. The two companies have 'issues' with the car's design, technical specification, branding and positioning.
Last year, Bajaj and Renault had signed an MoU for the ULC car project, but the actual joint venture agreement has not been signed yet. According to reports in the media, both Bajaj and Renault still want to work together on the small car, but their aims and objectives are turning out to be dissimilar, which may put the whole project in jeopardy.
Bajaj, which currently has no cachet in the passenger cars space, is looking to develop a vehicle which other carmakers may find difficult (or even impossible?) to profitably replicate. In addition to low cost, the Pune-based two-wheeler manufacturer wants to focus on fuel-efficiency for its first car.
Renault, meanwhile, wants to go after the Tata Nano, no holds barred. It wants to develop a car that can take on the Nano in terms of pricing and value-for-money. The French company is confident that for Nano money, it can actually offer a car that's better engineered, safer, more stylish and more refined than the Tata product. While Bajaj believes that a Nano replica - even one that's slightly better than the original - may not work, Renault is quite gung-ho about it and wants to launch its own version of the Nano as soon as possible.
Apart from tech specs and positioning, the other major issue is that of branding. Bajaj is keen to keep the upper hand here, since the ULC car will be its first foray into the passenger cars segment. The company wants the new car to be seen as a Bajaj product, and does not want the Renault badge to overwhelm the Bajaj name.
While both Bajaj and Renault remain committed to resolving their issues over the next few weeks, their ULC car may well be delayed by 6-12 months if Bajaj insists on reengineering the package completely. There also seems to be a small chance that the alliance may not take off at all, in which case Bajaj will go on to develop the small car on its own, perhaps with technical inputs from KTM. Either way, it should be interesting to see how this story finally pans out.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
Bajaj Auto to rethink small CV project
At a time when Tata Motors is looking at increasing production capacity for the Ace, and Piaggio and M&M are also looking at getting into the mini-truck segment in a big way by the end of this year, Bajaj Auto seems to be having second thoughts about entering the small commercial vehicles segment. The company is, in fact, said to be looking at postponing its entry into this segment to mid-2011.
According to reports in the media, Bajaj Auto now believes that doing an 'Ace-type' product will not work unless the Bajaj vehicle is offered at a significant cost advantage. Since the Ace has the first mover advantage and since Tata Motors is anyway a dominant player in the commercial vehicles segment in India, Bajaj Auto wants to make sure its small LCV has a clearly defined USP, which would allow it to take on similar vehicles from Tata, Piaggio, M&M and possibly others, including a few Chinese manufacturers.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
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