Bajaj Freedom 125 fails to spark commuter interest

In The Slow Lane

- NITIN KUMAR

A YEAR AFTER Bajaj Auto launched the world's first compressed natural gas (CNG) motorcycle, sales of the Freedom 125 have fallen short of expectations. The bike has sold only 67,848 units since its debut. In July last year, managing director Rajiv Bajaj had projected monthly sales of around 40,000 units for the commuter segment vehicle by March 2025, volumes needed to be profitable. "We're hoping it won't take beyond this financial year (FY25) to reach full capacity, which by then could well be 40,000 motorcycles a month... I think it is a very large catchment area and we should (hit that sales)," Bajaj had said. CNG motorcycles, he said, could eventually account for 30-70% of the country's monthly sales of 700,000.