Bajaj Auto is planning to hike prices of its vehicles from January 2010. Bajaj has a 30 percent market share in motorcycle market in India. The company is planning to hike the prices of its models owing to the rising input costs. “Manufacturers will have to take a call sooner rather than later. There are ways to address growing costs, including improving internal efficiencies and cutting cost through vendors,” said Milind Bade, General Manager, Bajaj Auto India Limited.

Bajaj is working on new variants of Pulsar and Discover models which will enable it to strengthen its position in the market and capture a larger share as well. “With the launch of the 135 cc Pulsar, the volumes are likely to go up to 85,000 Pulsar bikes a month, across variants,” said Rajiv Bajaj, “Our objective is to become the largest motorcycle maker in the world out-pacing Honda, which now accounts for about 8 million motorcycles a year. With new bikes, backed by buoyancy in the market, last month we registered a growth of over 85 per cent,” he added. Bajaj is also manufacturing low cost bikes in China that will be exported to Brazil and Africa. These bikes will be sold under the brand name Boxer in these overseas markets.