Group Chairman of two-wheeler giant Bajaj Auto, Rahul Bajaj, is miffed with his son and Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj over the latter’s decision to exit production of scooters. The senior Bajaj said he was not only unconvinced, but was “hurt” by it.
“I feel bad, I feel hurt,” Rahul Bajaj said, but son Rajiv opined that solutions should come more from logic than emotions.
Rajiv Bajaj, who took over reins of the Rs 8,500-crore group as Managing Director a few years ago, had said last week that scooter production would be stopped by the current fiscal to pave way for augmenting growth in the motorcycle segment as part of the company’s aim to become the world’s biggest bike maker in future.
“I can’t say harm the company and its shareholders by doing something you should not do, but I am still not convinced. He (Rajiv) has tried to explain it to me,” Rahul Bajaj said in an interview to NDTV.
Reacting to his father’s remark, the company’s MD Rajiv Bajaj said during the show: “I care less for the solution from emotions, I believe more in the magic of logic.”
Bajaj Auto, which revolutionised the two-wheeler market in the country through its ‘Hamara Bajaj’ campaigns in the 1980s and 90s, today sells just one scooter model - the 100-cc gear-less Kristal.
“Brands that are more sharply positioned are brands that are more profitable. It (scooter) is not a really profitable market,” MD Rajiv Bajaj said.
He, however, hinted the company might one day come back into the scooter segment.
“We have some good ideas on how to bring back the magic of a new kind of scooter. If we come back on the strength of a new category, I think we will not only have a scooter business but also a very profitable scooter business,” Rajiv Bajaj added, without giving details.
