Bajaj Auto to have design, marketing and sales offices at Bangkok, to go aggressive on exports

Pune based motorcycle manufacturer, Bajaj Auto is looking at setting up bases outside India to cater to its international audiences. This is also believed to reduce the brand's dependence on the extremely competitive domestic market. One of the other reasons for Bajaj Auto behind initiating this move is said to be the lower taxation that are applied in these markets, which would help Bajaj Auto to price its products competitively against the local players as opposed to directly exporting from India.

"We will have a marketing and sales office in Bangkok to address that region. We wish to have a design office there. We think Thailand is the centre of gravity for new two- and four-wheelers. We need to gauge the pulse of the market, so will have to place some of our own sales, design and R&D personnel there," said Rajiv Bajaj, managing director, Bajaj Auto, at the recently held annual general meeting.

Bajaj Auto has also tied up with Motosikal Dan Enjin Nasional (Modena) earlier this year. With this partnership, Bajaj Auto plans to make Malaysia a base to tackle its neighboring markets. It should be also known that a fifth of Modena's equity is controlled by Kawasaki, the Japanese motorcycle major that had a long term partnership with Bajaj Auto. "Of the significant milestones we have achieved, our partnership in Malaysia is the most important as it gives us access to a market where we sell motorcycles under our own brand. By virtue of this partnership, we will be able to localise up to 40 per cent, which then makes us a local player. Through Malaysia, we can address so many markets in ASEAN," Bajaj stated.

Bajaj Auto posted a growth of 27 per cent year-on-year in exports to 7.11 lakh during the April-August period. Even the three-wheeler business recorded 65 per cent growth to 1.7 lakh in the same period. The market share of the three wheeler exports stood at 50 per cent.  These numbers helped Bajaj Auto offset the weak numbers clocked in the domestic market. For the records, the domestic two-wheeler sales dropped by 1.34 per cent last year. The exports however grew by 14 per cent that accounted for 41 per cent of the total two-wheeler production.

Source: Moneycontrol