Rajiv Bajaj had the gall to announce an electric version of the now extinct Chetak. A vehicle they could not DEFEND in the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) age…

Its really hard to believe… that a company which had launched Pulsar… and being the market leader… today launched this oldie scooter… promising that it is a scooter for tomorrow.

Probably 2Wheeler market leader of India, Bajaj still doesn’t take the Electric Vehicle Industry very seriously. Why else would he bring in…

… an old model vehicle in a new technology world? They also seem to target the people who are born before 1970…

Why did they play that “hamara bajaj” song? What kind of marketing is that? What kind of market are they targeting?

Obviously the people born after 2000 will not know anything about the “hamara bajaj” song nor will they want to ride this oldie scooter.

The way Rajiv Bajaj kept talking about their glorious past… it is very obvious Hamara KAL is THEIR glorious yesterday. Not our tomorrow.

The way he said that Bajaj as a company always wants to give something new… is so laughable… when in fact Nitin Gadkari has lambasted both and TVS owner for not working on electric vehicles in spite of his pushes.

Its also high time Bajaj upgraded its 2wheelers mechanically rather than cosmetic upgrades.

In spite of Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari requesting them to make electric vehicles Bajaj was not willing to make electric 2-Wheelers. Initially they said the industry doesn’t know which technology will succeed. Then they said there is no road map. Then they said they need subsidies. When FAME was given then they shifted their goalpost to say that there are no charging infrastructures when scooters do not need ANY charging infrastructure. Then FAME2 subsidy was given. Still they hesitated.

 Now when they are forced to make electric scooters due to poor petrol scooter sales… all they could do was redo the old chetak? Bajaj then has the gall to say that it is made of metal. Doesn’t he understand that electric vehicles need lighter body!

The design belongs in Museum not the streets… Is this the best India has to offer?

On the positive side the eChetak has a good paint job and various sleek design like:

• Feather touch switches,  
• Keyless start,
• Digital Instrument cluster,
• Disc brakes in front,
• 6 choice of Colours

It would have been an EXCELLENT vehicle for a new company but for a market leader to bring such a vehicle to the market is really below par performance.

Yet it too continues with the new evil trend in the eScooter market to access/monitor/analyse its customer data with the excuse of connectivity and over the air updates. All this can be done while charging at Company-Points without accessing live-data. Then there was also a documentary that went something like “We make magic”. It seemed to come from hamara kal… ka doordarshan documentary.

Two absolute gems from the event:

1. “If you are not the first or the second then you have no market” Bajaj is probably the 10^th eScooter maker in India.

2. Thank you for coming. We will be launching the scooter next year.

Bajaj has stated absolutely nothing about the specifications of the eChetak on its website www.chetak.com till now. It is amazing how a lot of auto websites and YouTubers are irresponsibly quoting numbers and figures without even any iota of proof of statement OR commitment from Bajaj.

Although the numbers are quite achievable and common in the eScooter market there has to be some type of communication or spec sheet from the company or at least something on their website. There is a similar case in History when Renault Kwid promised 25kmpl and gave hardly 10kmpl to 15kmpl.

The only thing on the Bajaj Chetak website are some pictures of the scooter in the site.  So what is it offering?

Just the name Chetak? Dadaji ka Chetak?