Bajaj Auto plans to launch two new motorcycle product lines covering the 125cc to 250cc segment in FY2027, joint managing director Rakesh Sharma said after the company’s Q2 FY2027 results. Both lines will be sold in India and international markets, and both are designed to complement the Pulsar range rather than replace it.

The two brands will not each cover the entire 125-250cc range. Sharma said they will split the segment and some subsegments within it, so that each brand serves a different slice of buyers. The idea is to make the two brands work together, not compete with each other for the same customer.

This is not the first time Bajaj has talked about the plan. On the Q1 FY2027 earnings call in July, the company had already outlined two brands focused on the 125cc segment. Those brands were aimed at customers with different needs and at encouraging 100cc owners to upgrade. At the time, Sharma said they would offer propositions distinct from the Pulsar range.

The urgency behind the move is clear from Sharma’s own admission. Bajaj lost market share in the 125cc and 150cc-plus segments last year, and he said part of the reason was that several of its products were nearing the end of their life cycles.

"The whole reason for refreshing the old Pulsars was because the market share was stagnating, if not eroding slowly."

That line explains the sequence of moves. Bajaj started with the 150cc-plus segment because, as Sharma put it, "the 150 segment set the tone for the 125." A premium model helps establish the brand and shapes demand for lower-capacity variants that sit beneath it. Get the flagship right, and the entry models ride on that reputation.

The early numbers from the premium end are encouraging for Bajaj. The Pulsar NS and N series have been growing faster than the market in the 150cc-plus category. The older Classic Pulsars and the 100cc segment, on the other hand, have been weighing on overall market share.

The 100cc segment is where Bajaj has made its hardest call. The company raised prices there to protect profitability and accepted lower volumes as a result. Sharma said Bajaj would rather lose market share in entry-level models than cut prices aggressively. Its investment will go toward the 125cc-plus segment instead. For a company that once fought hard for every buyer at the bottom of the market, that is a clear shift in priorities.

Bajaj has been moving fast over the past few weeks. The launches and updates include the new Pulsar 125 and Pulsar 150, along with updated versions of the Pulsar N160 S, N160 SS, NS400Z, N250SS and NS200. The company is not finished. Sharma said more updates are planned for the Pulsar and Dominar ranges in the 160-400cc segment.

The early sales mix suggests the refresh is taking hold. Sharma said recently introduced models accounted for 7 percent of Bajaj’s 125cc-plus portfolio in August. That share rose to 26 percent in September and reached 33 percent in the first 16 days of the festive period. In other words, in roughly two months, nearly a third of the company’s 125cc-plus volume came from models that were either new or freshly updated.

Exports are carrying much of the growth story. Bajaj’s overseas shipments rose 41 percent year on year to about 7.8 lakh vehicles in Q2 FY2027. Motorcycle demand was especially strong in Africa and Latin America. Exports to Africa jumped 83 percent, while shipments to Latin America, including Brazil, rose 44 percent.

Sharma said future export growth will come from four sources: gaining market share, entering new product segments in existing markets, expanding into more countries, and strengthening the KTM collaboration. The export push and the domestic 125-250cc plan are tied together. A stronger product range at home gives Bajaj more to sell abroad, and overseas volume helps fund the investment needed at home.

The stakes are high for rivals in the 125cc to 250cc category. Bajaj has now said publicly that it will concentrate investment in that segment, that it will launch two brands to cover it, and that it expects its refreshed models to win back ground it has lost. The remarks reported after the results do not name the two new brands or give their launch models, so the exact products remain under wraps. What is clear is that the company has set its sights on the 125-250cc battleground, and it is preparing to fight there with a broader lineup than it has had in recent years.