It was obvious they'd feel the pinch from excessive scooter demand that Honda, Suzuki, TVS and Mahindra are happily riding. Only a few days back I was day-dreaming of owning a "new" Bajaj scooter and here is my wishlist for a Bajaj Scooter (exactly what I dreamt of):

1. Bring back the Chetak brand name - it still has LOTS of recall; this should be the *only* brand they sell scooters in unless they wish to target females in which case Priya could be brought back.
2. Make it HUGE - In the league of old Indian-made clones of Vespas and Lambrettas or the Kinetic Blaze - and it should be comfortable for touring long distance.
3. Make it a step-through bike (like TVS Tormax) type if possible with 17" wheels instead of puny 10" or 12" scooter wheels that make smallest humps and holes on the less than perfect Indian roads feel huge.
4. Vehicle SHOULD be geared. Automatic scooters suck big time since they lack both power and mileage. Ever since my Samurai engine seized I've been suffering the agony of riding a pathetic TVS Wego till I get funds to fix the Samurai.
5. Front disc brakes compulsory.
6. Engine should be 4-valved from Discover 125 ST or the future Discover 150 ST; else develop an all-new torquey long stroke engine family for use in scooters and avengers (which mostly would never happen) and maybe offer a KTM-Bajaj platform engine on a high-end scoot
7. Tachometer and digital instrumental console needed
8. Scooter should come with a nice wind shield
9. Projector lamps from Pulsar 220F

I am sure atleast this much that whatever they do, Bajaj will launch a performance oriented scooter due to their mantra of 20% margins. A scooter has a lot of panels and is a pain to assemble compared to a bike and so should cost a lot more than the 45k-48k ex-showroom most of the current scooters seem to sell at if you include Bajaj's profitability route. So only way to survive would be to start at a scoot that has *ATLEAST* 13 PS of power.

Now the main reason people buy scooters is its possible for sari-clad women to ride and lungi-clad men to ride, and you can carry shopping bags in the front. So automatic transmission can be sacrificed and twist-grip manual transmission should be brought back.

Now whether this really does launch in a couple of months or would it take much longer remains to be seen. But I know its inevitable. Rajiv Bajaj said the same thing - "We are for now, concentrating only on bikes". There was a "for now" which indicated future priorities may change.

If we look at the current 100+cc Scooter market, we get the following options.

Sub 8 BHP Scooters:
Pleasure (6.75 BHP)
Ray (7.06 BHP)

8 BHP Scooters:
Activa*
Aviator
Dio
Maestro
Flyte
Rodeo
Duro
Wego

8+ BHP Scooters:
Access (8.6 BHP)
Swish (8.6 BHP)
Vespa LX125 (10 BHP)

To go 30% better than market leader(Activa), the BAL scoot needs 10.5 BHP and still be more practical and physically bigger than a Vespa. I wouldn't expect anything more.

i want a 200 CC automatic scooter.

From my prospective Bajaj is unreliable. The first bike I had bought from my own earnings was a Bajaj Boxer in 2003 and I had enjoyed the ownership. I felt the need of the convenience offered by a scooter and then exchanged my boxer for a Kristal DTS-i. I had read a good review about it in an auto magazine too. Within few months the problems started. The service center reported issue with battery charging, starter motor and replaced them. I was ok and then tried to enjoy the ownership. The scooter was also pretty smooth if ridden at 40kmph, try to do anything above that and the vibrations and unwillingness was clear. The big problems started a year later when Bajaj stopped production of Kristal. Getting service for the scooter raised my tension levels. All service centers in Hyderabad denied to accept it for service saying the mechanic left job and there is no one to service a Kristal. There was just 1 service center in the City 20kms away from my residence, also whenever I went there they told me to dispose off the scooter for many reasons.

Also Bajaj has a bad reputation of starting/stopping/restarting/restopping its models more ofter than any other company. Who can say the same will not happen with the yet to be launched scooter? Just think about the luck of those who bought Spirit, Wave, Kristal etc. I have nothing against Bajaj, but it's me who has suffered.

I have recently bought a Suzuki Swish 125, now it's due for 1st service and I'm pretty happy with it.

Why would a new scooter have to be bigger than Vespa? If the females are to be targetted as customers, then these scooters need to be right-sized.

despite Mr.Bajaj saying that they have no interest to get into the scooter market anytime soon.. people will never stop speculating about it will they?

I still gets service and spars for age old Bajaj Classic. May be because of popularity.