Riding high: Bajaj Auto's CNG motorcycle races ahead with record sales

Registrations highest since Freedom 125 was launched in July this year

Bajaj Auto’s foray into CNG (compressed natural gas) motorcycles is paying off with the Freedom 125.

 

The company, according to VAHAN figures, registered over 8,310 units of the Freedom 125 in October to date, a growth rate of over 68 per cent over the full month of September.

 

This is its highest since it was launched in July this year and is likely to touch close to 9,000 by the end of the month.

 

And the company is planning to ramp up wholesale dispatches to 30,000 units in the third quarter (Q3) and 40,000 in Q4 with a strong demand pipeline, especially with the delivery of the base model recently (Rs 95,000) compared to its premium model (Rs 1.05 lakh) with which it entered the market. 

 

 

What is interesting is the traction it has received in some states. The CNG bike accounted for 1.3 per cent of the volumes of two-wheelers registered in Delhi in September and 1.2 per cent in Gujarat while on average it got a share of 0.6 per cent nationally for what is a new category not only in India but the world. Apart from Delhi and Maharashtra, its top five markets include Madhya Pradesh and Haryana.

 

Analysts in Anand Rathi project CNG volumes for Bajaj to be significant. They expect such sales in FY25 to hit 240,000, accounting for 6 per cent of its domestic two-wheeler sales. In FY26 this could go up to 21 per cent with the company selling over 700,000 CNG bikes.

 

Rakesh Sharma, executive director, Bajaj Auto, in an earlier interview to Business Standard had pointed out CNG’s share of the market would mirror that of electric vehicles. So if 5-7 per cent of mobikes go electric, there is no reason not to have a similar share for CNG mobikes.

 

The product has attracted consumers due to its many pluses. Its fuel cost is 50 per cent of that of a petrol mobike and range worries are neutralised by the fact that it also comes with a small petrol tank in case CNG is exhausted.

 

What has justified the move is the quick proliferation of CNG-fuelling stations across the country. There are more than 4,650 CNG stations across more than 365 cities. They cover 70 per cent of the two-wheeler market.

 

The success of Bajaj Auto has prodded rivals to join the bandwagon. TVS has said it will enter the segment. But analysts say due to the complexity of the product it will take at least two years for competition to come up with a product. While Ola Electric is to launch its electric mobikes in the first quarter of CY2025 at a much lower base price of 79,999, Bajaj Auto has decided to keep away from the electric market and closely watch the space.