Bajaj to sell 3-wheelers in Indonesia by July

Bajaj Auto plans to start selling three-wheelers from its new plant in Indonesia by July and motorcycles by end-2006, a company official said on Saturday.

The company also plans to set up an assembly unit in Nigeria with an initial capacity of 50,000 units by end of calendar 2006.

"While we would start selling three-wheelers from the Indonesian plant by July, we hope to roll out motorcycles from the plant by the end of this year," said Sanjeev Bajaj, executive director (finance).

Bajaj Auto is setting up a manufacturing plant in Indonesia through a 95-5 per cent joint venture with PT Abdi Raharja.

Bajaj did not disclose the capacity of the plant nor the models that will be manufactured there. The company aims to achieve a yearly growth of 25 per cent in exports in 2006-07 (April-March), Bajaj said.

"In 2005-06 (April-March), we exported about 250,000 units. We hope to achieve at least a 25% growth over these levels," he said.

Bajaj on Saturday also launched a 100-cc motorcycle Platina, priced at Rs 34,000-36,000 (ex-showroom Delhi). This is the company's second model in the 100-cc segment after CT100.

"This launch will help us to continue to outpace industry growth in 2006-07 (April-March)," S Sridhar, vice-president marketing, told reporters here. Bajaj Auto's motorcycle sales grew 37 per cent on year in March to 28,998 units.