GENESIS & EARLY GROWTH
This is the story of a bike, which not only rescued a long-standing manufacturer from going under but also spearheaded one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the Indian automotive world. It started almost a decade ago, December 2001 to be precise when yours truly broke the news about the Pulsar twins – a brave move to give Indians brought up on a steady stream of “fill it, shut it, forget it” dogma. Nothing wrong about this aspect of fuel efficiency but with the nation on a roll and beginning to aspire to pleasures beyond fuel efficiency, the Pulsars in 150cc and 180cc displacements came in as a breath of fresh air. They defined what most motorcycle enthusiasts desired but OEMs were hesitant to deliver – a sporty offering on two-wheels!
The Pulsars were an instant hit and they went on to create a segment of sports bikes which even the likes of the Yamaha RD350 and the RX100 couldn’t and this is the true measure of how the Pulsar and its maker created an entirely welcome new segment for Indian motorcycling. Lets face it, if it weren’t for the Pulsar there wouldn’t have been a Yamaha R15 or for that matter the Honda CBR250R! Many might feel I am going OTT here but what prevented these two Japanese worthies from doing the same, that too in a more pronounced manner and giving this segment ample encouragement and push so that it came out not like over-powerful racers for the road but sporty machines everyone could ride and enjoy. No wonder then that Bajaj Auto never ever considered putting the Pulsar on to the racetrack, staying away from it being one of the trump cards of its management style!
The one thing, which Bajaj Auto did right with the Pulsar or the Discover and the Boxer brands, was never to be complacent. I remember once during the course of many interactions with Joseph Abraham, the finest motorcycle engineer and designer the country has ever known, put it down very simply: “The Pulsar isn’t, and will not be, a static target. It is always a moving target and that will ensure no one gets a clean shot at what we want this brand to do.” More versions followed, the Pulsar adding not just tweaks but wholesale technological leaps to be at the forefront of motorcycle design and technological evolution in the country. The DTSi top end with twin-spark technology, the ExhausTEC detail, fuel injection, were just three of the big leaps pioneered by the first generation Pulsar along with enough visual style, radical yet comfortable riding positions, attention to detail and a surfeit of one clear ingredient: the smiles per rupee ratio which no other bike could deliver. So much so that the team at Bajaj Auto were unhesitant to go back to the humble carburetor just so that they could make yet another big leap forward in sustaining the pleasure – the Pulsar 220 jettisoned its fuel injection and stomped to the fastest Indian production bike mantle!
No wonder then that this combination ran strong and true as well as very very successfully to set up the sporty performing motorcycle segment in the Indian market. However, there is a time for everything and nowhere was this basic tenet clearly in focus than within the precincts of Stars Ahead, the legendary R&D department at Bajaj Auto. As part of the company’s forward planning strategy where they were looking at the big picture (always), the scenario in 2008 was mighty different from 1999 when the Pulsar programme began in dead earnest. The first time it was survival at stake, which had seen the firm pulling out all the stops to come up with the Pulsar. This time round the stakes were much higher because finally the firm had got everything right with its back end and didn’t want to make a mistake while also grappling with the sheer force of its alliances and acquisitions to make the large global picture come into sharp clarity. Must make a point of mention about Bajaj Auto’s back end which has been the envy of the industry. How many know that in sheer profitability, Bajaj Auto ranks as the most profitable automotive enterprise in the world with an EBITDA in excess of 21 per cent?
