Bajaj RE60

Bajaj RE60 from Bajaj Auto Ltd. is the much awaited car, which will soon make its way to the Indian automobile market. The company has finally stepped into the four wheeler segment of the Indian automobile market. Displayed at the New Delhi Auto Expo held in January 2012, the RE60 amazed the audience. After attaining huge success in the two wheeler and three wheeler segments, the company is trying its luck in the four wheeler category. Although auto enthusiasts believe that the car will compete against Tata Nano, the cheapest car of India, statement of the car maker is completely different. According to Bajaj, the RE60 cannot be called a car rather it will be a passenger vehicle with a seating capacity of four people. The company describes it as a replacement of its three wheeler auto rickshaw with advanced interiors and exteriors.

At present, the company manufactures its three wheelers at its Aurangabad plant and the upcoming car is expected to be rolled out from there. Carrying a price tag of Rs. 1 lac, the car will be an unmatched product. According to Bajaj Auto, two variants of this car will be available in India, out of which one will be entry level model and other will have several comfort attributes. Bajaj Auto India has solely done the designing and development of the RE60, which took it four years. The company also has plans to export this car to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, African and Latin American countries. At the Delhi Auto Expo, the Government representatives of Bangladesh, Columbia, and Sri Lanka were invited by the company to get feedback.

Renault-Nissan was at first extremely interested in the project of Bajaj but no positive outcome resulted. During the initial project, the alliance showed interest in marketing the ultra low cost car but couple of months ago, the company mentioned that it will first see what Bajaj offers and then take the final decision. For intra city urban transportation, the mini four-wheeler commercial vehicle RE60 will be launched by Bajaj Auto by the end of this fiscal.

The two wheeler giants has announced that the by the end of the fiscal, commercial production of RE60 will start. However, other details like the production capacity of the vehicle have not been disclosed by the company.

Engines & Specifications of Bajaj RE60

Targeting the commercial vehicle segment of the Indian automobile industry, the Bajaj RE60 will be introduced with a 200 cc single cylinder engine. The capacity of this engine is to generate power output of around 20 bhp. The four wheeler has a metal-polymer monocoque body due to which it weights 400 kg. Turning radius of the first four wheeler of Bajaj is 3.5m.

Performance of Bajaj RE60

As per as performance of the Bajaj RE60 is concerned, the four wheeler is expected to attain top speed of 70 kmph. The 200 cc single cylinder engine of Bajaj RE60 help it deliver decent performance on road. Mileage of this four wheeler is also quite good and it is expected to deliver 24 kmpl in city and 35 kmpl on the highways. Although the car enthusiasts are not much happy with the 200 cc engine, considering it as a replacement of a three wheeler, it is quite acceptable. Further, it has CO2 emission of 60g per kilometre.

Exterior, Interior & Safety Features of Bajaj RE60

Compact in size, the Bajaj RE60 has a rugged look. It looks bulky although it is not so. In terms of looks, the four wheeler is no way similar than Tata Nano. It attains a noteworthy stance with the help of upright glasshouse, short wheelbase and skinny wheels. One can easily notice a Renault touch in the headlights of the RE60. Further, the company has not provided any grille in the RE60, which makes it unique. The rear section of this vehicle is flat and trendy tail lights give it an attractive look. Overall length, width and height of the new Bajaj RE60 will be 2752 mm, 1312 mm and 1650 mm respectively. The other noteworthy features of the car include stylish wheels.

Although the Bajaj RE60 is a replacement of a three wheeler, the company has provided good finishing to the interior. Instrument cluster is positioned on the dashboard of the vehicle along with storage box on each side. Passengers will be delighted to find huge amount of storage space in the cabin. Seats of this four wheeler are quite simple and rear bench is flat, which is an upgrade of the rickshaw bench. Rear seats of the vehicle can be folded for creating extra luggage space. Being a passenger vehicle, this feature will be extremely useful.

This vehicle will be available in two models out of which one will be a four seater whereas the other can accommodate three individuals including the driver. For maximum safety of the passengers, the company has provided disc brakes in the front and drum brakes in the rear. Safety has become a cause of concern as there is no front grille, which at most instance bears the impact of any collision.

Comparative analysis of Bajaj RE60 and Tata Nano

Till date Nano is the cheapest car in India but now Bajaj has challenged its supremacy as it is about to launch it’s much awaited model RE60 in the country. Since its launch in India, Tata Nano has become one of the most favourite vehicles of average Indian customers. The car is loaded with a 624 cc, 2 cylinder, MPFI engine, which is capable of generating 37 hp power, which is more than that of Bajaj RE60 that generates 20 hp power. The torque generation capacity of the car is 51 Nm.

As far as transmission is concerned, it has synchromesh on all forward gears and on reverse gears, it has synchromesh with overdrive on 4th gear. Compared to the top speed of Bajaj RE60, which is 70 kmph, the Nano boasts of 105 kmph.

It has lower wishbone, independent, McPherson strut with gas filled dampers and anti-roll bar as the front suspension whereas for the rear section, the car gets independent, semi trailing arm gas filled shock absorbers and with coil spring. Overall length of the Nano is 3099 mm, width is 1495 mm and height is 1652 mm. It has wheel base of 2230 mm and ground clearance of 180 mm. At present, the Nano comes in two variants namely LX and the CX. Both Tata Nano and Bajaj RE60 are four seater cars but the former has better interior than the latter.