Duke 125 sales break a lot of myths and in this story we present some numbers which were shared by Bajaj which have led it to the decision of Pulsar 125…
Few years back it was almost unimaginable to think of a 125cc motorcycle costing about Rs 1.50 Lakh on road! This is precisely the reason KTM did not launch its baby Duke 125 in India despite producing it here at one of Bajaj’s plant in India for the last many years. They kept all the stock for export markets.
But prices of motorcycles have increased significantly specially in the last couple of years due to the various government regulations. This has expanded the motorcycle sub-segments and this is when KTM thought it would be opportune for its Duke 125 to make an entry.
Duke 125 was introduced in India towards the end of last year at a price tag of 1.18 Lakh ex-showroom Delhi. Though prices of the motorcycle have increased by a significant amount in all these months but it still remains the entry point into the KTM fold. So, how has the baby Duke affected KTM’s market in all these months? Let us have a quick look..
Duke 125 Sales – Numbers
At the media ride of Pulsar 125, Bajaj shared with us the individual sales numbers of all the Dukes in India. Here is how it stands..
- First half of 2018-19 Fiscal (April to September 2018) – Duke 125 was not launched in the domestic market during this period. All the other Dukes combined managed to register total sales of 3955 units with the 200 registering 1534 unit sales.
- Quarter 4 of 2018-19 (January to March 2019) – Duke 125 came into the picture and took KTM’s total tally to 5240 units. Individually it registered total sales of 2486 units.
- Quarter 1 of 2019-20 (April to June 2019) – Total sales of all Dukes combined rose to 5391 units in this quarter. Duke 125 managed to sell 2152 units in this three month period.
Quick Key Pointers
- Sales Rise: Duke 125 has increased the segment for KTM and sales rose to 5391 units in a three month period as compared to 3955 units KTM registered in a six month period last year.
- No Cannibalisation: From the numbers given, it appears that Duke 125 has made a case of its own and is not cannibalising into the buyers of Duke 200 much. Nor is it impacting Duke 250 and Duke 390’s numbers which are premium offerings in the portfolio.
- Individual Sales: Duke 125 is selling almost double the numbers of Duke 200.
- If we average out Duke 125’s numbers for Q1 2019-20, it registered monthly sales of 717 units which are impressive figures for a motorcycle which produces less than 15 PS of power and costs 1.30 Lakh.
- No Brand Dilution: Rise in sales and no (major) impact on other Dukes has meant that there has been no brand dilution in the market, at least during this tenure.
Now Rumours of KTM 250 Adventure for India Start Flying
Basically, the success of Duke 125 has inspired Bajaj to take its sports Pulsar brand in the 125 cc segment which is often considered as a commuter segment.