South Africa has a mixed population of whites and blacks. While the whites are expectedly aware of what’s state of the art, the blacks continue to remain on the margins with hardly any means of convenience for themselves. Cars and bikes are quite naturally present out there, but a certain Indian motorbike manufacturer noticed that statistics point that two wheelers are not actually quite popular in South Africa.
“South Africa is a very particular market. The black South Africans who live in townships, they don’t have their own means of transport. They have to walk to a taxi rank, take a taxi and probably take another one. They spend a lot of money, and waste a lot of time”, Karan Patni, Marketing Manager, Bajaj Southern Africa, said.
Quite an extraordinary number of the South African population still does not own private transport. Although, owning cars is considered as prestigious, not many can afford even the most basic Chinese models. Owning two wheelers has perhaps not struck or perhaps it’s not prestigious enough for the South Africans who still continue to use the very popular private mini buses that have a long history of road accidents. Bajaj Auto therefore wants to introduce rather cheap motorcycles in South Africa, thereby attempting to establish the two-wheeler industry there.
It all depends on how well Bajaj would market its bikes. Having ruled the roost in India for decades, it wont be surprising if it succeeds in South Africa too. Already number one in Africa after having sold over 0.6 million bikes in the continent, time will tell how South Africa would react to the concept of Hamara Bajaj or is it *Ons* Bajaj? (Afrikaans).
Source – The Economic Times
– Rohit Nair
