Friday, December 4, 2009

Is PULSAR overexposed ?


Bajaj has planned to release a sub 150cc Pulsar next year. Its expected to be a 135cc unit with the same DTSi technology. The brand Pulsar, all these years, since its introduction in 2001, from 'Definitely Male' till 'The Fastest Indian' has created an image of youth, sporty and performance. There had been a long list of product variants like the 150cc, 180cc, 200cc(phased out recently), 220cc and technology updates like DTSi, DTS-Fi and DTS-Si. But all these were in the premium segment (150cc +) where Pulsar had enjoyed an extended honeymoon period. Bringing the same brand which was appealing to youths as a style statement, into the commuter segment which is a sub 150cc category will tamper the image of the brand as a premium product. When Discover, which was in the 135cc segment, is detuned to the entry level 100cc segment, the earlier was discontinued. XCD is on the verge of getting axed. One brand which targeted a set of customers and was successful all these years is now parallely repositioned to another set of customers. The line between underexposing and overexposing a brand is very thin and Bajaj could have planned a new brand for this segment. Why squeeze a successful brand to its limits?

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