Rajiv Bajaj Responds to Dominar’s Slow Sales

Dominar 400 sales: Rajiv Bajaj cites examples of his rivals in defence…

Little over two years ago Bajaj launched the Dominar 400 in the domestic market. It was Bajaj’s biggest motorcycle ever and came at a shocking starting price tag of Rs 1.36 Lakh – about the price of the Pulsar RS200 then.

Buoyed by the formula, Bajaj went onto predict massive sales target of about 10,000 units every month which no motorcycle of this capacity had ever come close to (apart from Royal Enfields). However, Dominar has never really gotten even remotely close to its sales target in its complete lifespan till now. Based on this yardstick, it has not been doing ‘according to expectations‘.

Economic Times, in an interview with Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director of Bajaj Auto, asked a related question.

ET

If you speak to motorcycle enthusiasts, they have good things to say about the Dominar. Yet, it has not been as successful as Pulsar. What is the reason for this?

Rajiv Bajaj

All companies cannot win in every segment all the time. It is true that the Dominar is a great product and many people acknowledge it for being so. Let me give you an example, Hero scooters are also (good), there is nothing wrong with the product. But the sales are not good. HMSI’s 100cc motorcycles are a disaster in terms of sales. But there is nothing wrong with these bikes. Similarly, HMSI’s 150cc bikes, which compete with Pulsar, have poor sales performance. Sometimes you have to adjust the strategy more than the product. Last year, we have focused very sharply on the CT, Platina and Pulsar because that’s where our opportunity was.

What We Have Gained in One Year is Higher Than RE’s Total Market Share: Bajaj

Dominar 400 Sales
The 2019 Dominar comes with higher power, DOHC engine, dual barrel exhaust, USDs and many other significant changes…

New Pulsar Launch in June; Will be ‘Very Innovative’, Says Rajiv Bajaj

Dominar has registered only triple digit sales every month in the first quarter of this year, however, that can be attributed to the transition from the older version to the 2019 Dominar which has been recently launched with some significant mechanical changes. With a renewed strategy and no public target sales number how well will the sub-brand do? Only time will tell…