He, however, sounded upbeat about the prospects of the KTM, an Austrian racing brand that the company had invested in 2007
Mumbai: Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj on Thursday described the launch of the 100-cc variant of the commuter bike Discover as the “biggest blunder” of his career as it stunted the company at the No. 2 position.
He noted that the Discover was a differentiating product when it was launched in 125-cc format, “offering mileage with a little fun,” which was evident from the rising volumes.
However, Bajaj rued that the company is still the No. 2 player (in terms of bikes volumes) in the country because of the mistake it had made with the lower variant launch of the Discover and that things would have been different if it hadn’t done so.
“Greed came in. Marketing people said if the 125-cc Discover sells so much then how many would a 100-cc Discover sell? We went ahead and made the 100-cc Discover. We lost our position and five years later we lost our performance too...”
“We started off as a point of difference, with a different perception and a USP, but we ended up being a ‘me too’ product. Me too is bad in life and marketing,” he said, speaking at an event in the city.
He, however, sounded upbeat about the prospects of the KTM, an Austrian racing brand that the company had invested in 2007.