David Pieris Motor Company Ltd - sole agent in Sri Lanka for the best selling Bajaj range of motorcycles, are a key player in India’s Bajaj Auto’s thrust into the global market.

Bajaj Auto, one of the two leading 2-wheeler manufacturers in India has increased its market share in India’s motorcycle segment and has notched up dozens of awards for its products, and has climbed up the rankings from number four to number two in motorcycles, “And we are getting closer to number one,” says Mr. S. Ravikumar, Vice President, Business Development, Bajaj Auto India.

Among the innovations, Bajaj believes it was the first in the world to produce a small bore, lean-burn engine using two spark plugs, achieving enhanced performance and at the same time, improved efficiency and lower emission characteristics.

“Normally you try to increase power and you burn more fuel - but we have achieved improved performance with lower fuel consumption with a twin spark plug,” he says. “We were at a great cusp and a big opportunity was staring at us-a big domestic market, a government waking up to environmental issues, and customers demanding high value, lower fuel consumption and good quality.”

The R&D department that started out with just ten people now has almost 300 and is still growing. Bajaj is filing patents at a rate of 50 to 60 a year. Mr. Ravikumar says: “To be alive and kicking amidst top-notch competition is being clear about product strategies and making technology work in a “distinct” way for you.

Bajaj is the market leader in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka; Pulsar is the most popular brand in Colombia, where Bajaj is selling around 90,000 motorcycles. Other important markets include Mexico, Guatemala, Africa and the Middle East, Philippines and Indonesia.

The group is also investing heavily in production capacity. It has three plants in the state of Maharashtra - at Pune, Aurangabad and Chakan-and in April 2007 it commissioned a fourth plant at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand.

Bajaj has won numerous auto awards in India. These include the super “Platinum” Award for manufacturing excellence, Bike of the year/ranked first ‘in’ Top 30 Automobile Brands of India for the Pulsar, ‘Bike of the year 2008 and Award for motorcycles up to 125cc - 2008 for the newly introduced XCD 125cc, ‘Bike manufacturer of the year’ Award for 2007 and a TPM excellence award category 1 for its Chakan plant.

Bajaj has been listed on the Mumbai stock exchange for many years, but remains a family concern. Bajaj promoters hold 29.9 per cent of the group, and another 17 per cent is held by friends and associates.

In Sri Lanka DPMC has upheld and furthered the Bajaj brand presence islandwide with its dynamic management and marketing processes which ensures the brand’s market leading status in the country. DPMC’s excellent infrastructure which is comprehensive in its distribution, sales, after-sales and genuine pre-delivery processes has won the trust of all segments of the market keeping the Bajaj 2-wheeler range ‘Distinctly Ahead!”