Chetak Technology Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bajaj Auto, said it will increase its market presence from 40 to 85 in the next three months and will have 95 showrooms. It currently offers a product in 62 of its stores and has sold about 30,000 vehicles to date.
“The main goal of adding the network is to give people a touch and feel experience with the product. All showrooms will become Chetak stores through the dealership model,” said Eric Vas, President of Urbanite. In addition, the company has about 54 workshops in 43 towns, 90% of which are company-owned.
In January 2022, the company upgraded its existing product Chetak 2403 to Chetak-2413, of which all parts of the product (design and software) are owned by the company. “While the vehicle looks exactly the same from the outside and performs the same on paper as before, the underlying technology is different as the intellectual property and design of all components are owned by Bajaj Auto,” Vas explained.
According to the company, the existing model is aimed at appealing to what they call the “mass premium consumer” and is therefore priced accordingly at an ex-showroom price of Rs 1,54,189. But Vas reiterated the statement of company chairman Rajiv Bajaj, “This is a growing market and for some time we expect to launch a new scooter every year.”
The company competes with the likes of TVS, Ather and Ola. In addition, Vas said the company also plans to start shipping its products internationally by the end of this fiscal year.
manufacturing unit
Currently, Chetak Technology is producing 6,000 vehicles per month, and once the company is fully operational, it will be able to produce 15,000-20,000 vehicles per month, Vas said.
In June 2022, the company inaugurated its new EV manufacturing plant, which is co-located with its R&D center in Akurdi, Pune. Jetta Technology Ltd. and its supplier partners said they will invest around Rs 750 crore in the new plant, according to a press release. CTL was incorporated in October 2021 and production will start in November 2022.