Neo999.com

Two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto is betting big on ad campaigns and is pushing up the budget, starting with its new 200 cc Pulsar motorcycle on whose promotion it has spent Rs 1-2 crore.

“The company’s overall promotional budget for 2007 will go up by 20-25 per cent as compared to that of last year’s. We have spent between Rs 1-2 crore on Pulsar’s new advertisement,” Bajaj Auto Marketing General Manager Amit S Nandi said here today.

Bajaj, which sold 39,675 units in 2006-07, would have a production capacity of 3.5 million bikes by 2007-08, he said.

The company, which claims to have 60 per cent market share in 150 cc and above segment, is coming up with an executive bike by next quarter. “The new bike will be in 100-150 cc range and will be priced in the affordable segment,” Nandi said.

The 200 cc bike, which was launched in the country in February, would soon be exported by the year end. “The export of the new Pulsar should happen this year itself,” he said.

When asked about the expected sales of the 200 cc bike, targeted at 18-24 year age group, he said, “The growth in sale might be good but not exponential.”

The 200 cc targets metropolitan markets and the northern part of the country, he said. Bajaj’s 200 cc new advertisement has been shot in Malaysia but given a Latin American look.

Admitting that sales in 100 cc segment had slowed down in March, Nandi said, “Sales in 125 cc have been good but not in 100 cc. But still we are not planning to exit the 100 cc market at present.”