GENESIS & EARLY GROWTH
This is the story of a bike, which not only rescued
a long-standing manufacturer from going under but also spearheaded one
of the most dramatic turnarounds in the Indian automotive world. It
started almost a decade ago, December 2001 to be precise when yours
truly broke the news about the Pulsar twins – a brave move to give
Indians brought up on a steady stream of “fill it, shut it, forget it”
dogma. Nothing wrong about this aspect of fuel efficiency but with the
nation on a roll and beginning to aspire to pleasures beyond fuel
efficiency, the Pulsars in 150cc and 180cc displacements came in as a
breath of fresh air. They defined what most motorcycle enthusiasts
desired but OEMs were hesitant to deliver – a sporty offering on
two-wheels!
The Pulsars were an instant hit and they went on to create a segment of sports bikes which even the likes of the Yamaha RD350
and the RX100 couldn’t and this is the true measure of how the Pulsar
and its maker created an entirely welcome new segment for Indian
motorcycling. Lets face it, if it weren’t for the Pulsar there wouldn’t
have been a Yamaha R15 or for that matter the Honda CBR250R!
Many might feel I am going OTT here but what prevented these two
Japanese worthies from doing the same, that too in a more pronounced
manner and giving this segment ample encouragement and push so that it
came out not like over-powerful racers for the road but sporty machines
everyone could ride and enjoy. No wonder then that Bajaj Auto
never ever considered putting the Pulsar on to the racetrack, staying
away from it being one of the trump cards of its management style!
The one thing, which Bajaj Auto did right with the
Pulsar or the Discover and the Boxer brands, was never to be complacent.
I remember once during the course of many interactions with Joseph
Abraham, the finest motorcycle engineer and designer the country has
ever known, put it down very simply: “The Pulsar isn’t, and will not be,
a static target. It is always a moving target and that will ensure no
one gets a clean shot at what we want this brand to do.” More versions
followed, the Pulsar adding not just tweaks but wholesale technological
leaps to be at the forefront of motorcycle design and technological
evolution in the country. The DTSi top end with twin-spark technology,
the ExhausTEC detail, fuel injection, were just three of the big leaps
pioneered by the first generation Pulsar along with enough visual style,
radical yet comfortable riding positions, attention to detail and a
surfeit of one clear ingredient: the smiles per rupee ratio which no
other bike could deliver. So much so that the team at Bajaj Auto were
unhesitant to go back to the humble carburetor just so that they could
make yet another big leap forward in sustaining the pleasure – the
Pulsar 220 jettisoned its fuel injection and stomped to the fastest
Indian production bike mantle!
No wonder then that this combination ran strong and
true as well as very very successfully to set up the sporty performing
motorcycle segment in the Indian market. However, there is a time for
everything and nowhere was this basic tenet clearly in focus than within
the precincts of Stars Ahead, the legendary R&D department at Bajaj
Auto. As part of the company’s forward planning strategy where they
were looking at the big picture (always), the scenario in 2008 was
mighty different from 1999 when the Pulsar programme began in dead
earnest. The first time it was survival at stake, which had seen the
firm pulling out all the stops to come up with the Pulsar. This time
round the stakes were much higher because finally the firm had got
everything right with its back end and didn’t want to make a mistake
while also grappling with the sheer force of its alliances and
acquisitions to make the large global picture come into sharp clarity.
Must make a point of mention about Bajaj Auto’s back end which has been
the envy of the industry. How many know that in sheer profitability,
Bajaj Auto ranks as the most profitable automotive enterprise in the
world with an EBITDA in excess of 21 per cent?
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