Bajaj’s Chakan plant serves as one of the most popular automotive hotspots in our country. Bajaj currently assembles its own motorcycles there, accompanied with the KTMs and Husqvarnas. It also has a testing facility! And now, Bajaj Auto has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Maharashtra to set-up a new manufacturing facility in Chakan. According to reports, Bajaj will be investing around INR 650 Crore in setting up the new plant, which should be fully functional by 2023.
More details
The new plant will reportedly facilitate the manufacturing and assembling of KTMs, Husqvarnas and also, Triumphs. The new facility will also be used for building the Bajaj Chetak electric scooter.
Maharashtra Government will facilitate the company in obtaining necessary permissions, registrations, approvals, clearances, fiscal incentives and more from the concerned departments of the state, as per the existing policies and rules and regulations. Now that’s where the technicalities end and assumptions begin.
What does it entail?
It is already out in the open that KTM is currently working towards its 490 line up which will utilize a 500cc parallel-twin motor. The industry is assuming that the new plant might facilitate the production of KTM 490s.
It is also logical to assume that we should be expecting Bajaj’s own derivatives of the 490 platform. It should happen in the exact same manner that we witnessed in the case of the 200, 390 and the 250 platform. KTM should spawn a Duke 490, RC 490 and possibly, an Adventure 490 as well. We shouldn’t expect Husqvarna to get left behind as we might also expect the spawning of Svartpilen and Vitpilen 501. Bajaj is also working in conjunction with Triumph to dish out an affordable performance motorcycle. All of these upcoming projects should find their home in the new Chakan plant.
It might seem as of now that Bajaj Auto is lagging a little behind in the competition but this recent development is enough to project that the home-grown manufacturer means absolute business and has many long term plans to rule the market and not just ours. We can expect Bajaj Auto to export its upcoming motorcycles to other countries as well. The new plant with a larger production capacity, will further solidify the brand’s global ambitions.