Bajaj Auto has been in the automobile industry for quite a long time now. Year 2001 saw them make the Pulsar and later, the Discover. While the Pulsar’s success is unbeatable it’s the Discover that is taking the beating. Bajaj’s bread is the Pulsar but the company needs the butter which is the Discover. Discover’s overall market share fell down considerably in the month of April 2014 when compared to April 2013. From fourth position to seventh position is a huge slip. So after testing every Discover in the market today, we have made some analysis of what made the Discover fall down so dramatically that Bajaj now has to discover ways to bring it back to the top.
Bajaj Auto plays the game too fast and is very quick in its decisions. If a product succeeds, Bajaj will take minimum efforts to make it go ahead stronger. If a product fails, Bajaj will try to make the product sell by doing what it does not do in the first place, which makes the company look like they are in a hurry. There is absolutely no doubt that the new age Discovers (M and T) range is bang on with their proposition to the customer. Leave alone value, the Discover has excelled by providing comfort and mileage without the sacrifice of power. The engines and gearbox are way more refined than anything Bajaj has previously made and as always the quality and refinement has surely improved.
Why did the Bajaj Discover actually flop? Lack of marketing, continuous product launches leads to confusion, negative sentiment on how Bajaj discontinues products in a flash and much more. Bajaj has now started marketing their products in old fashion on how the competition does but if all of this was done on time or before time, it would have helped them dramatically. These examples are seen in the car market as well. If the product is good and not marketed well, it suffers its fate. Despite all of that, if a company starts marketing later on, it is considered as desperation by our impulsive audience.
Market demand since day one has been mileage and Bajaj owners say that the Discovers returns good km/l figures. However the niggling issues and poor resale value because of discontinuation of the bike, pinches them badly. Competitors mileage figures have always been on the lower side but still they sell like hot cakes on a daily basis since day one, because their products also boast of reliability, strong resale value and lack of uncertainty which boosts confidence for the next upgrade or while referring. Word of mouth plays a crucial role in this market.
All of this equals to the fact that the customer is insecure all the time and like any other customer in the world, no one likes uncertainty. Bajaj needs to come up with a plan since day one, a plan which is hard as concrete to gain market share and confidence of customers. A lot of new products are on their way and we hope Bajaj does not do the same mistakes again. We know that the company does accept failure and changes its course quickly but accepting mistakes and improving from them is all part of the feedback which Bajaj should consider taking. All of this will not be new for Bajaj as it has been doing it with performance motorcycles and is the unbeatable champion in that segment.
