Bajaj has been a pioneer in the Indian automobile market and it won’t be wrong to say it has a huge hand in shaping the commuter segment of the Indian market by introducing high-quality bikes with great fuel efficiency like the Platina, Boxer and the entire CT series. The brand is now also exploring the EV segment with Chetak scooters and also on CNG motorcycles.
Yes, you read that right. Bajaj being Bajaj is again back to experimenting and pioneering, and this time it is developing a CNG motorbike. The reason is simple too. Bajaj is a brand with its footprint in over 70+ countries and customers in many of these countries would rather prefer or benefit more from a CNG than an EV motorcycle if we look at the up-front costs, which is quite high for the latter.
And that includes India too, which is a price-sensitive market, especially at these lower cc segments. The news about an upcoming CNG motorbike is pretty much confirmed as it was hinted by Bajaj Auto CEO, Rajiv Bajaj earlier about a possible launch of a CNG two-wheeler for both Indian and Foreign markets. A test mule for the CNG bike was also spotted recently alongside Platina, possibly benchmarking against it. So, its possible the bike may have a fuel efficiency similar or higher than the Platina.
Although the test mule was fully under wraps, just by taking a look at the overall silhouette, it’s clear that this is a whole new bike since no other bike in Bajaj’s portfolio has a body design like this one.
We can spot a small fuel tank, a long sear, a standard grab rail and large knuckle guards on the handlebar. Other components include an RSU telescopic at the front, a rear mono-shock, alloys with tubeless tyres, a rear tyre hugger, a round headlamp with halogen lighting and drum brakes at both ends.
Bajaj is probably aiming to make this a retro-styled bare-bones rugged CNG bike with other expected specs such as a semi-digital or fully analogue instrument cluster, USB charger and other basics, similar to the Bajaj CT125X. We previously also dubbed this test mule with the CT150X name, due to similar design and components.
As far as powertrains are concerned, this upcoming CNG motorcycle will share its engine with any of the existing commuters, say a tuned Pulsar 150cc engine, and will bear modifications to run on CNG. However, it’s yet to be seen whether Bajaj implements a bi-fuel setup or a full-fledged CNG offering.
The motorcycle is expected to debut by mid-2024 or by the end of July 2024 followed by its launch soon.
