TheScooterScoop

(So sad *sniff sniff* The Chetak is dead!)

Bajaj slams brakes on Chetak- The Times of India: “MUMBAI: Many years later, when their daughters got married, fathers would proudly remember the day they had the good sense to book a Bajaj Chetak – an unavoidable dowry item of the somnolent seventies and eighties.

Bajaj Auto has finally written the epitaph of the scooter that is an icon of post-Independence Indian industry, and perhaps also a waspish reminder of its arrogance. The company’s Akurdi plant rolled out the last Chetak two days ago.

‘Like Volkswagen Beetle, the product had lost its relevance. We stopped production on December 31. We have some stock. So the sales will continue till March,’ Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto, said.

Rajiv said his company, which introduced the Chetak in the early seventies, had produced approximately 10 million scooters under the brand. ‘The consumer has given up on the product. Except minor tinkering, it had remained unchanged for more than 30 years.

But then, that is what consumers wanted, a strong, reliable vehicle for the family. They used to call it the car on two wheels,’ he said. “

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