Bajaj Pulsar 125: Why You Won’t Find One Variant

The following post is India’s Financial Express ExpressDrives assessment of how Bajaj Auto priced and marketed its Pulsar 125 motorcycle with and without front disc brake to compete in the Indian marketplace.

KADDAM, India – Bajaj Auto launched the Pulsar 125 in India in September last year. The Bajaj Pulsar 125 is the company’s smallest Pulsar on sale right now. It is in some ways a replacement for the technologically more advanced yet smaller in size, 135LS. After all, the Pulsar 125 and P135 produce nearly the same amount of power and torque. Nonetheless, Bajaj priced the Pulsar 125 very competitively. The Bajaj Pulsar 125 price, at launch, was Rs 64,000 for the drum and Rs 68,600 for the disc version, ex-showroom. No, we didn’t make a mistake there and Pulsar 125 was available with a front drum brake. However, if you go to a showroom, you might not find one. Here is why.

Bajaj’s main opponent for the Pulsar 125 was the Honda Shine SP. The sportier version of the Shine was priced at Rs 67,214 at the time of being discontinued (Oct 2019). Bajaj wanted a lucrative price point. A sporty motorcycle at the affordable spectrum and that too carrying the Pulsar nameplate will be a lure for many, especially college kids. This is the reason why one will not find the drum brake version of the Pulsar 125 in the showrooms. At present, the Bajaj Pulsar 125 with a drum brake isn’t likely made at all. We tried contacting Bajaj for an official statement, however we are yet to hear from them. A Bajaj official, at the time of the first ride, though told us that if the market demands a drum brake Pulsar in the future, the company is ready for the same.

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Recently, Bajaj updated the Pulsar 125 to meet BS6 norms. The Bajaj Pulsar 125 BS6 price now starts from Rs 69,997 and goes up to Rs 74,118. In the meanwhile, its new rival, the SP125 is priced at Rs 73,452 for the drum and Rs 77,652 for the disc. The SP125 makes less power than the Pulsar too. However, the SP125 is better in terms of features and is the lighter motorcycle by a good measure. So, its performance shouldn’t be affected by a fair margin. Plus, it comes with a six (optional) year warranty.

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