KTM Duke 200 launched by Bajaj Auto at Rs 1.18 lakh

To strengthen its position in sports bike market in India, Bajaj Auto , in collaboration with Austrian manufacturer KTM, on Tuesday launched its 200cc power bike Duke 200, priced at Rs.1.17 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

"Between the Bajaj Pulsar and the KTM Duke, we intend to further strengthen our dominant position in the sports motorcycle segment in India," said Rajiv Bajaj, managing director.

He said the company will be launching at least one new KTM bike every year in the country.

Bajaj Auto has a 39% stake in the Austrian company with whom it produces two models - Duke 125 and Duke 200 - at its Chakan plant near Pune.

The bike would be retailed through 34 KTM stores which were earlier known as Bajaj Probiking showrooms.

Duke has nearly 95 local components and is powered by 200cc, liquid cooled, four-valve engine which generates peak power of 25 bhp and a maximum torque of 19 Nm.

"We will be producing 3,000 units per month at the Chakan plant. We are very optimistic about the sales prospects as we have a very attractive price," Hubert Trunkenpolz, chief sales officer, KTM Power Sports, said.

The total capacity at the plant for the two KTM bikes currently stands at 30,000 units.

Bajaj Launches Low Cost Car RE60

Bajaj in its eighty years of history has launched its first car ever today and taken on Tata Nano.

The Bajaj RE60 has high fuel-efficiency ratios, the company said.

Bajaj has been working with Nissan Motor Co and Renault SA on a project to develop what was originally planned to be an ultra low-cost minicar.

To be christened as Bajaj RE60, the four-wheeler is an epitome of not just a car-like vehicle, but even Bajaj's future range of three and four-wheeler passenger and goods transport vehicles.

With speculation rife about the fact that retaining its three-wheeler genes in the car which essentially is a three-wheeler, Bajaj has added an extra wheel to it just to give better balance, comfort and safety.

The four-wheeler, as the observers point out powered by a two or three-cylinder petrol motor with a displacement of 700-800cc at most. With power on the slower side, the vehicle may not hit more than the speed of 90 Kph. But what would give the car a definite edge over the existing players in the segment is its better fuel efficiency which is expected to be around the 30 Kilometer per liter mark.

As a complete in-house product, the Bajaj RE60 was originally conceived as the ULCC project or Ultra Low-Cost Car under a joint-venture between Renault-Nissan and Bajaj.