Rajiv Bajaj Says Bet On BET In Electric Scooters ... They Eat OATS For Breakfast
The EV startup business model is a cash-burn model and our business model is cash-flow model, Bajaj said.
Shrugging off the threat of startups, such as Ather Energy Pvt. and Ola, in the electric scooter segment, Rajiv Bajaj said he'd rather bet on legacy two-wheeler companies.
"I’m going to bet on BET — Bajaj, (Royal) Enfield and TVS. They are champions and they have a proven track record," the managing director of Bajaj Auto Ltd. said in a media conference held to announce the launch of the new Pulsar motorbike.
Here are Bajaj's comments in brief:
"The sign of a champion in the auto industry is that you are able to adapt.
This (Bajaj) is a 75-year-old company and it has adapted to challenges over and over again.
Sometimes the challenge was of moving from scooters to motorcycles, sometimes it was regulations, competition or sometimes it is the electric disruption.
Good Indian two-wheeler companies are not as light-weight as some startups would like to think.
The question is who are you going to bet on, are you going to bet on the legacy companies or you are going to bet on startups?
I’m going to bet on BET — Bajaj, (Royal) Enfield and TVS. They are champions and they have a proven track record."
Taking a jibe at Ola, Ather, Tork Motors and SmartE, all startups that have entered the electric scooter segment, Bajaj said the legacy companies eat OATS for breakfast.
The EV startup business model is a cash-burn model and our business model is cash-flow model, Bajaj said.
"We (legacy players) have to make sure we make money when we make a motorcycle.
If we launch a motorcycle in October, you will get it in November. It is not that we will launch in 2021 you will get it in 2022, that’s the startup way, and not the legacy way.
There are startups out there that we respect and the biggest one is Ola but we have to still see them produce something and sell something.
There is Ather we enormously respect and they have demonstrated."
Bajaj Auto's Chetak — the electric version of its classic scooter brand — was launched in 2019. It marked the return of the company to scooters, a segment it dominated once but exited when Rajiv took over the reins from his father.
The Chetak competes with electric scooters from other two-wheeler companies like TVS Motor Co. and Hero Electric Ltd. — run by a branch of the same family that owns and runs India's largest two-wheeler company Hero MotoCorp Ltd.
But the more aggressive competitors have been new entrants such as Ather Energy—backed by Hero MotoCorp—and Ola Electric, a subsidiary of the popular ride-share company.
Ola Electric Mobility Pvt. launched its electric scooter in August this year, while aggressively raising funds at a $3-billion valuation. In the first two days of accepting bookings, the company clocked sales of more than Rs 1,000 crore. Production has started and deliveries will begin towards the year-end.
The company also plans to launch battery-powered motorbikes and cars.