Bajaj, the Indian motorcycle that captured the Indian motorcycling market with its Pulsar brand way back in 2001. Two decades later, if Bajaj hasn’t slipped back, it hasn’t moved further either. The resurgence of Royal Enfield, as well as the onslaught of Japanese brands, has pushed Bajaj onto the back foot. The Pulsar is not the best sports motorcycle in its class. It’s not even the most refined or the cheapest to buy. Dominar which was launched with the sole purpose of taking on Classic 350 has been trumped over by a slew of Royal Enfield motorcycles in the last 5 years.
They’re still stuck with two-decade-old Pulsar styling that they keep adding ugly decals to. Up until the launch of Pulsar 250, they kept decreasing the engine capacity of the Pulsar taking it to 125cc further diluting the brand.
Today, the market has moved so far ahead while Bajaj has been left behind due to its impassiveness. Even when they launched the Pulsar 250 twins, they could not capture the market that the OG Pulsar enjoyed.
Bajaj’s downfall is very tough to watch as a motorcycle enthusiast which is why I was very excited when I saw the news of the Bajaj and triumph partnership a few months ago. The British motorcycling brand Triumph has reportedly partnered with Bajaj to make an under 500CC motorcycle. From a business standpoint, this seems like a very good partnership for both companies.
The triumph which has no experience of making smaller CC motorcycles would have a shot at the Asian market. On the other hand, Bajaj would profit massively in creating a modern classic motorcycle which seems to be all the rage in India. The likes of Honda, Royal Enfield, Yamaha, Jawa and Yezdi have all jumped into the modern classic genre with Bajaj nowhere to be seen.
There is however very good news for all Bajaj fans and motorcycle enthusiasts in general. Spy shots of a new under 500cc motorcycle made by Triumph have been leaked on the internet. This would surely be the motorcycle that Bajaj and Triuphu partnership will bring to India. Let’s look at what we know so far.
Styling
The styling of the Bajaj- Triumph motorcycle is an unmistakably modern classic. It would compete with the likes of Royal Enfield Meteor, Honda CB 350, Jawa 42, Yezdi Scrambler and Classic 350 to some extent.
There seem to be two versions of the motorcycle, one modern classic road motorcycle and another scrambler. Both the motorcycles can be seen with small LED lights, classic tank shape, a single exhaust with twin opening ports with scrambler coming with luggage rack, high mudguard at the front, windshield and a few other bits and pieces.
Expected Price
Triumph is a premium motorcycle brand, that offers high-quality motorcycles commanding a high price tag (rightfully too), so do not expect this to be a Meteor 350 competitor in terms of price. These spy images show the motorcycle with inverted front forks, LED lights, TFT dahs and radial front callipers, all of which are indication of a high price tag.
The partnership was announced way back in 2020 with a promise of launching a Triumph- Bajaj motorcycle under Rs 2 Lakh. But inflation, COVID and parts shortage means that they can never fulfil their promises. Assume the price of the Triumph -Bajaj motorcycle to be similar to or slightly higher than a KTM of similar engine capacity.
Expected Launch
The motorcycle is currently being tested in the UK with rigorous testing in the Indian conditions still to be done. Given how tedious the process of making a new motorcycle is, we’d expect the launch date of this motorcycle to be in early 2023 or late 2022.
Expected Name
There is no news on the name of the motorcycle. Bajja has however recently trademarked the name “twinner” which it could use for a new motorcycle. Twinner however sounds more appropriate for a twin-cylinder motorcycle and this Triumph- Bajaj motorcycles are certainly single cylinder.
It is hence unclear what the name would be. We would let you know when any news appears.
So what do you think about the new Triumph Bajaj motorcycle? DO you think their partnership would be successful?
