Pulsar AS200 Needed a Lot of Work; We Are Completely Re-working it: Bajaj

Ever since the news broke out, of the return of the Pulsar NS200, future of AS200 looked bleak. Maintaining two very similar motorcycles (with minor differences) on production lines was difficult and keeping them on sale may have ended up confusing end buyers. And hence, Bajaj officially confirmed that the AS200 (and the AS150) has been discontinued, and yes NS200 is its replacement.

Promoted under a new sub-brand Adventure Sports, AS200 did not have many traits of adventure tourers and instead, it was more of a fairing-snapped version of the streetfighter NS. It failed to attract many buyers.

However, the good news is that, they say that they will bring back the Adventure Sports brand in the market later which, hopefully, will be more purposeful. In a latest interview with Autocarpro, Eric Vas, president of motorcycle business at Bajaj, admitted that AS200 appeared to be a half-hearted attempt and they are working on its complete overhaul. He said,

“…Yes, the AS 200 needed a lot of work to be done and we are currently completely re-working on it. The NS 200 had a big fan following, we brought it back in much better form than ever before. We will bring the AS back also when we are ready…”

This takes us to the officially confirmed (for India by Rajiv Bajaj) KTM Adventure 390 and its Bajaj’s derivative – which is where the company can use the ‘Adventure Sports’ Brand. He also added that the Pulsar brand will not be kept limited to 200-220 cc. If there is a need, they will plan a bigger motorcycle specifically for the Pulsar brand.

We have lost count of how many motorcycles has Bajaj axed from the market but that is how they work – if it doesn’t work, drop it from the line-up – you like it or not!

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