Bajaj Auto, the world's fourth largest two- and three-wheeler manufacturer, has finally launched ‘Duke 200’ street bike in New Delhi on Tuesday. The Duke 200 has been introduced by Bajaj Auto in collaboration with Austrian partner, KTM Sportmotorcycle AG. The Duke 200 is the very first product of this joint venture that will be launched in the country. Earlier in the year 2011, they developed and introduced a 125cc sports bike in Europe.
According to the company officials, Bajaj Auto plans to bring forward three new models in the Indian market in the coming years. This step has been taken by the company in order to expand its operations in the domestic automobile market. Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto Limited (BAL) was present during the launch of Duke 200. He commented that the company has been planning since long to introduce Duke in India as it would give Bajaj a chance to lead the sports motorcycle segment.
The company wants to further strengthen its partnership with KTM and that is why Bajaj Auto is transforming its Probiking showrooms across different regions in India into KTM outlets. Rajiv Bajaj commented that, "Bajaj Auto has decided to sell the Duke through all 32 Probiking showrooms, which have now been transformed into exclusive KTM outlets. Besides, there will be 40 service centres dedicated only for KTM bikes." With this step, all products of Bajaj like the Pulsar 220 will not be available for sale at its Probiking showrooms. However, the company would continue to sell Kawasaki Ninja models at these centres.
The Duke 200 will be available at a price tag of Rs. 1.18 lacs (ex-showroom Delhi). Bajaj Auto Limited has decided to assemble all the KTM vehicles at its Chakan facility in Pune, Maharashtra.
Stefan Pierer, Chief Executive Officer, KTM Sportmotorcycle AG was present along with Rajiv Bajaj and commented about the future plans that "Next year, we will launch a 350-cc bike and it will be followed by two more bikes in the next three years. So, it will be three bikes in three years."
The company has started exporting locally assembled KTM bikes and around 11,000 Duke 125 vehicles were sold in the year 2011. As per the statement given by Rajiv Bajaj, KTM is set to become largest premium bike manufacturer as it has swiftly made its place in the emerging automobile markets like Malaysia and India. He added that Bajaj Auto Limited is planning to increase its export volume to almost double.
In the year 2011, KTM sold more than 81,000 units in comparison to 2,00,000 units by Harley Davidson (largest premium bike manufacturer). With these sales figures, KTM earned a total of 526 million euros.
