Last month's sales stood at 99,500 units, with scooters contributing 54,684 units to the November sales.

"The strong performance comes on the back of an impressive 26 per cent growth posted last month," Bajaj Auto vice-president (business and product development) RL Ravichandran said in a statement.

The company's three-wheeler sales, however, recorded a 5 per cent dip last month as compared to the corresponding period last year. The company sold 14,198 three-wheelers in November. In the scooterette segment, Bajaj Auto posted a 86 per cent growth with sales of 6,189 units, up from 3,318 units in the same period last year. The higher sales in this segment was fuelled mainly by the Bajaj Spirit, the company has said.

In scooters (including Bajaj models sold by group company Maharashtra Scooters) the company claims to have notched up a market share of 62 per cent. Scooter sales stood at 54,684 units last month, as compared to 54,192 units sold in the same period last year.

In the Japanese motorcycle segment, sales of Kawasaki Bajaj motorcycles rose by 42.16 per cent to 21,400 units last month, from around 15,000 units in November last year. In the Indian motorcycle segment, sales were higher by 20.4 per cent to 17,223 units, as compared to 14,300 units in November last year.

Combined sales of two and three wheelers rose 11.53 per cent last month as the company sold 1,13,709 units, up from 1,01,950 sold in the same month last year.

Bajaj Auto, which has essentially been a scooter maker, has been hit hard by the shift in consumer preferences from scooters to motorcycles. The company is stepping up motorcycle capacities. It is also exploring ways to alter the product mix keeping in tune with the changing market.

growth in sales calls for scrip re-rating
The robust 86 per cent sales growth in the scooterette segment truly bodes well for the two-wheeler major. Especially, since this growth continues to be complemented by the volume growth in the Indo-Japanese motorcycle segment, all of which augurs well for Bajaj Auto.

More importantly, this proves that the company's strategy of having a product to suit every need might well pay rich dividends. In scooters there is Classic SL, Chetak and Super, while in motorcycles, Bajaj will be represented in almost every segment starting from the low-end M-80 to the stylish and high-powered segment with the 110 cc Mercury and the upmarket 175 cc Eliminator. Also with the third at Chakan near Pune, Bajaj's total production of two- and three-wheelers, could well touch the prestigious two million vehicle mark.

A corollary of which would be the enormous pricing cushion for the company due to the truly world scale of operations and the resultant lower costs. All of which points towards a re-rating of the stock from the current level of Rs 422.

Percy Dubash