Indian company Bajaj is the fourth largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world and the largest private motorcycle company. So when I had the opportunity (the first of journalists and foreigners) to interview the General Director of Bajaj Auto Rajiv Bajaj, I jumped at the chance.
The 44-year-old handsome Rajiv Bajaj looks like a Bollywood star. He would break up women's hearts, flooring in the streets of Pune. Instead, he is busy with a much more interesting case: he works as CEO of Bajaj Auto, the world's fourth largest motorcycle company, and the largest private company. And this means that he is a sole ruler: no "round hand" in the Japanese style, no board members who control every step of you-and no intrigue in an administrative style. Rajiv said, and yet he is being asked to follow his instructions. His only boss is his father, Rahul, who, in his 72 years, retains the presidency. The [ [ Bajaj Auto]] is one of the 30 largest companies in India, including metal working, insurance, finance, but first of all-the production of motorcycles and, until recently, scootersAnd here I am talking to a man whose decisions can change the lives of millions of people, with a man, a managing concern, whose turnover exceeds the annual budget of many countries. Rajiv, how long have you been working for Bajaj Auto? Since December 1990, it has been over 20 years. I have studied engineering at the local university in Pune and then to the University of Warwick in Warwick in the United Kingdom. Then I internships in India at Tata Motors-and found it extremely cumbersome, inefficient and obsolete. However, when I started working at Bajaj Auto, there was no special difference! But during training in Warwick and internships in the Honda UK I had the opportunity to familiarize myself with Japanese production methods-in particular, with the system "exactly on time". When I started working at Bajaj in 1990, the concern barely managed the demand for scootersAnd I thought, " If the company is all right, why don't I go into production -- in the end, that's what I was learning. And then we will be able to produce more-and sell more. " I have a brother -- he's younger than me for three years -- he's like my dad, a capable financier. We've made good money lately, so we've been able to do a lot of financial transactions. And three years ago, we divided the concern into two parts: the brother headed the financial department, and I was a machine-building. Since then, the company has grown significantly: you have taken 27% of the booming Indian motorcycle market and entered the 30 largest Indian companies. This success has enabled you to accumulate significant amounts of money. Can you tell me what it is? More than a billion dollars, and that amount is growing rapidly. Last year, after paying a 30-percent tax, our net profit amounted to $600 million.At the same time, our investments do not exceed $50 million per year. So we continue to accumulate capital in order to invest in expanding our operations around the world. These investments are the purchase of part of CMW shares (39.3%). As far as I know, you negotiated with the Ducati and Triumph before entering into an agreement with the Austrians. Why did the KTM pick? Since 1983 we have been cooperating with Kawasaki, and this cooperation has been very fruitful for both sides. But we decided to cooperate with a recognized brand, and the choice was obvious: Ducati, Triumph or CMW. I met with the leadership of all three companies. The first I have had Ducati: Don't mess with anyone in Bologna, because the relationship with politicians and trade unions is the same as ours. I've been drinking this at home, so why do I have to take on the Italian problem? They also requested a very high price. But the main reason is the first. As for Triumph, the price was also very highBut the main thing is that this company is following the market rather than creating it. The English have learned to calculate market niches and fill in their own high-quality products. But it doesn't always work. In addition, they do not make sense in our production base: they have their own fast-growing branch in Thailand. That's the TMC that suits us well! We are so opposed, that we complement each other perfectly, like Yin and Yang. I remember when we looked at their products, they were very amused-from what zoo did she escape? In addition, from Austria? Austria and the motorcycle are not bound by these concepts. What are we in for? But everything was as good as it could be. For the first time, we met with TMK bosses, Stefan Pirer and Rudy Knutze-in March 2007 at the Motor Show in Geneva, and between us, we had a sort of sparkAnd then it went so fast! Imagine, two and a half years, we worked without signing any papers. Of course, the purchase of shares was accompanied by a lot of documentation, but in the rest-there are no protocols of intentions, production plans, etc. We understood each other from half a service and without discussion. Working with CMW is just fantastic! Bajaj has acquired 14.5% of KTM in November 2007, and since then your share has been steadily increasing. What are your plans for the CMW? First of all, I will say the CMW and without us are a very strong company. It lacked only finance and supply networks in Asia. So Bajaj is the perfect partner for the Austrians. We are not going to be the source of parts and components for them: in this case, savings would be only 20%. Instead, we have fully taken over the production of the 125-Cube Duke, which has reduced the cost by 35%. In turn, the technical ideas of the CTBT Du 125 will form the basis of the new generation of our family Bajaj PulsarAs you can see, there is no comparison with the acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover-I do not think that we will ever see Jaguar engines in the Tata pickups or their microcar Nano. Now about the future of the CMW: I believe that the company will remain independent. I don't have any plans to turn her into a branch of Bajaj concern. We will work closely together, but CMW will remain independent in all aspects-from developing new models to marketing. If you decide to support the CMW financially financially by the purchase of shares in the future, then what is the limit? I guess 49%. Again, we are not going to absorb the CMW. How will you develop your relationship with Kawasaki? If Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha have their own branches in India, Kawasaki fully relied on cooperation with you. Will it not be the end of your relationship with the CMW? Our cooperation with Kawasaki is limited to sales of their products. Probably, in the US and Europe, KTM and Kawasaki competitors, but in India-not yetEven when KTM motorcycles are sold in India, they will be a niche product and Kawasaki is targeted at a mass buyer. As you assess the market prospects of CMW in India, this company produces mainly off-road motorcycles and urban endo, and they do not use demand here-despite the lack of decent roads. (Laughs) Permit me to refer to Darwin: not the strongest or the most intelligent animal, but one that is better adapted to change. In my father's 60s, 1970s and 1980s, India had a huge market of scooters, first of all 150-cubs, which replaced a simple Indian car. But I felt that the market was changing-and if you rephrase Darwin, when the market was changing, the task of the manager was to adapt to itSo we shut down the old factory-it was impossible to adapt-and built a new one in Chakana, which was aimed at the production of the Poulsar motorcycle, replacing the old Chetak scooter. The basis of Bajaj's success in the 1990s is that we have caught the market trends. It is useless for the buyer to offer a slightly improved product-in order to interest it-something new must be given to it. And we made a bet on the Pulsar sports bike (in India-any motorcycle is more than 125 cm³), and it was not wrong-now every second sports bike in our country has a brand of Bajaj. Ten years ago, Pulsar was way ahead of its time-just like the CMW today. I think the CMW will repeat in India the success of the Pulsar. In November this year, Pulsar will mark the tenth anniversary of its debut-but, as I understand it, it will soon be replaced by an entirely new family. CMW is relevant to its development? Yes, the lower part of the power supply of the KTM of 125 and the new Pulsar is completely identicalBut CMW has a four-valve head, liquid cooling, and one candle per cylinder, and the new Pulsar also has a four-valve head, but with two candles on the cylinder, and provides versions of liquid and air cooling. Our option is more focused on fuel economy and less toxic emissions. And design? The design of the new Pulsar is fully developed in India. So, the 125 cc Duke will be a premium product in India, even after the Pulsar's debut in 2012. When does his sales start here? Until the end of this year, all the Dukes will go to Europe. Only next year will we start sales in India-at the same time as the new PulsarBut be aware that the Duke here will be a 200-cub! The production costs for the production of 125-cuba and the 200-cc motorcycle are almost identical, and since we do not have laws that encourage 125 cubs, why not offer the local buyer more bike for the same money? If the CMW Duke 200 for India is premium, how much will it cost and how many motorcycles you hope to sell? It will be worth twice as much as Pulsar. Premium-a segment in India is three or four thousand motorcycles per month. So if we sell about a thousand Duke every month, it will be very good. As far as I know, in the autumn of this year, CMW Milan will present a 350-cuted Duke, also your production. Is this a purely export product, or are you going to sell it in India? Yeah, we're gonna sell it in India, and not just a Duke bike. KTM is developing a couple of options specifically for us. CMW is based on its sports successes: we are chasing that we sell, we sell what we are chasing. Do you plan to organize a local series of branding competitions? Yeah, the CMW has a couple of ideas on it. But they do it on their own. We provide resources, communications, administrative support, but we do not interfere in the organization-we just have no experience in this case. And you don't want your brand to strengthen sports success? Here are your competitors from Mahindra, who have gone to MotoGP. To be honest, in our sector of the market-mass production-there is no direct link between sports victories and sales. So the races-in any form-for Bajaj are not interesting. Let our engineers design the real things and don't get distracted ... In India, Bajaj is a leading manufacturer of full-grown motorcycles, and your starry take-off started after you actually refused to manufacture the scooters. But now Piaggio is returning to the Indian market with Vespa. Do you have any desire to return to this market niche? In the '60s, 70s, and' 80s, we did the scooters-and the scooters were doing 70% of the Indian market. Now we are focusing on motorbikes, who now own 70% of the market. Success is in specialization, and specialization means that something has to be sacrificed. Around 50 million two-wheeled vehicles are currently being sold worldwide, of which more than 30 million-about 60 percent-are on motorcycles. But they make 75% of profits! Last year, we made nearly four million motorcycles-out of 30 million world production! Our target is ten million motorcycles a year. Do what you do, and know how to make the most of it! Ten million bikes a year! How do you get this? In pursuit of this goal, we are not limited to the production capacity or the marketing network-only the features of the brand. I do not want to blur our brand-if the market requires products of a very special kind, it is better to create a new brand. And if we have to produce and scooters for a 10-millionth level of production, I will gather our specialists and tell them, "What can we do a scooter that is fundamentally different from those manufactured by competitors?" For example, electric. Do you plan to manufacture electric vehicles? We are considering two options: an electro-anduro, together with a MWC, and a tricycle. Next year we will bring to the market a new generation of our three-wheelers, and it is quite possible to have an electric drive modification. As far as I know, Michael Shchz, the winner of the race Tourist Trophy and Laguna Seca, with the MotoCzysz electric band, was trying to get you interested in a low-cost electric motorcycle project he's working on. You supported him? Yeah, he's interested in me so much that I financed his project. He has some progress-though not as much as he promised. To be honest, it is too early to say whether this project will reach the production stage. Bajaj is now in India-No2, but your main rival, Hero Honda, has recently disintegrated in connection with the liquidation of the joint venture between Honda and Hero Motor. How can that affect you? I think we're going to face a very competitive Honda competition. In a joint venture, they mainly did scooters and light motorcycles, but now Honda will hastily strengthen its position in the more powerful motorcycles sector. But I'm not too worried. We have strong positions in the market, we launch a new generation Pulsar, and together with CMW we make the perfect couple-Yin and Yang! Every 27 seconds from one of the three conveyors of the main factory Bajaj in Chakana, a new motorcycle or Discovery model is being used. India has a population of 1.16 billion, of which 500 million are under the age of 25. The education system in India is one of the best in the world, with 160,000 engineers being prepared by Indian universities every year. On the roads of India, 45 million motor scooters, motorcycles and three-wheeled vehicles of Bajaj are riding today. BAJAJ AUTO. The company was founded in 1945 and originally engaged in the import of Italian scooters-two-wheeled Vespa and three-wheeled Ape. In 1959, the Indian Government purchased the licence and transferred the Bajaj Auto production rights. In 1970, the company released its 100,000 scooter (until 1971 it was a Vespa), and by 1977 it had already produced as many scooters every year. In 1986, production reached half a million vehicles a year, and in 1995 it was a million. But by the end of the century, sales began to fall. The situation was saved by the debut of Rajiv Badjadja's child, the Pulsar with engines 150 and 180 cm³, in 2001. In the Indian market dominated by 100-boe Hero-Honda, Pulsar is a real sports bike. In 2007, sales of 220-cc Pulsar, the most powerful and high-speed Indian motorcycle, began. Currently, three Indian factories Bajaj (another one in Indonesia) produces 3,900 thousand motorcycles and 360,000 tricycles. Approximately one third of the products are exported-mainly to South-East Asia, Africa and Latin America. The production of the motorcycle Duke Duke Duke 125 (internal symbol of X-Street) started at the Chakan plant in January of this year (the same factory is also being collected by Kawasaki Ninja 250). Every day Indian workers make 80 MTOC motorcycles, or 2,000 per month. All components except the ECU Bosch and DellOrto injection systems, local production. Engineers from Austria are assigned to the plant and carry out quality control. Bajaj makes 125 cc of the KTM Duke, approach-200-cub and 3550-cc. HOW ABOUT A RIDE? Of course, I wouldn't have been able to visit Bajaaj, without trying at least one of her famous Pulsars. In addition, I tested the CMW Duke 125 (see below). "Moto" No11-2010) in the pre-production version, so I was curious to know what the serial version was. But the trouble was in one thing: I was in India several times, and never dared to go to the local streets on a motorbike or a motor-car: it was a chaotic movement here. I have lived for two years in Paris, a dozen times a year in Italy, visited Morocco, Mexico, Thailand and Malaysia, and has not experienced any particular driving problems. But India is a very special country, believe me. Fortunately, the head of the Bajaj project centre, Joe Joseph, made available to me the company's test track, a well-designed track with a mile straight and a few riveted turnings. The main thing is that there are no cows lying right in the middle of the road, and crowded buses, burgled right in front of your nose. To begin with, I mounted the latest version in the Pulsar family-model 180TS-i. It has a two-valve air-cooled engine, with a special feature, two candles per cylinder. It develops 17 l. c. at 8500 rpm, and 500 /min before the opening of the limiter on a well-equipped dashboard, flashes a flicker. The transition of a five-speed gearbox is rather soft, the stylish saddle provides a convenient landing, although the motorcycle is very small-the base of only 1345 mm-and the driver in 180 cm is tight. The back suspension with the two shock absorbers-but in India they usually have a lot of wives and wives, a few kids and a lot of shopping. In general, for $1,500, a lot of motorbikes-which explains why millions of Indians choose Pulsar. Now move on to a more refined and dynamic product. No, I don't mean the CMW Duke 125, and Bajaj Pulsar 220DTS-i. This model debuted in 2007 with injection of fuel, but in two years she suddenly received a carburetor. At the same time, it was possible to open the price of $120-a lot on Indian terms. And so at the price of $1,900 for the local population, it's almost a premium. 220-cc engine with a power of 21 l. c. At 8500 rpm, the machine is driving the car confidently, even though it has a mass of 152 kg, and the torque of 19 Nm at 7,000 rpm gives the necessary flexibility. Even though the rear of the back is as good as a 180-box modification, the motorcycle seems to be more collected. 17-inch local production tyres are clinging to the road (180-cc mixture), front and rear face disc brakes (180-cc rear drum). In general, a good motorcycle with a lot of nice details: a digital dashboard with a digital dashboard and a blink, an automatic pump, a self-closing direction indicator, a head cylinder with two candles, a powerful (37 mm) front plug and a rear LED on the LEDs. Bajaaj might well be selling it in Europe! The Motorcycle of India's production, which is now being sold in Europe, is the Du 125 CMW. Last year I tested a pre-production specimen, and now I tried a machine that only two days ago got off the pipeline. I can say one thing: he has lived up to all expectations. The fast and at the same time stable in speed turns, Duke gives the impression of a much more dynamic bike than Pulsar (which is 40% heavier). The quality of the assembly and the decoration is above the level of praise. So, look at the nearest CMW dealer and see for yourself. Bajaj makes motorcycles, You can travel many thousands of miles. But they try to make these trips pleasant ...