Challenges Faced by Bajaj RE60

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 10 January 2012, 00:55 IST
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Bangalore: The RE60 of Bajaj Auto came to Auto Expo with lots of history of controversies. The team wanted to make it a cost as well as fuel efficient car but experts say that it is only a modified version of autorickshaw with one more wheel.

Bajaj wanted it to be called as ‘four-wheeler’ but the term ‘car’ was used in the market while unveiling it. It seems the company has faced many situations and did a lot of research while developing this RE60. According to ET data, the CTO of research and development team of Bajaj, Mr. A. Joseph says, ‘it was a massive challenge to get the RE60 right.’

Initially Bajaj was onto a smaller project merge with Renault-Nissan, but Bajaj refused it by saying ‘it didn’t make any business sense’. Then Bajaj took an initiative to renovate the product. Joseph explains it as they have “redefine the product completely. Everything…right from the spacing had to be redone.”

Bajaj made the structure of the vehicle with steel rather than aluminium to cut the high cost. Though aluminium saves weight and it became quite a challenge to maintain the weight less than 400 kg, as steel is much heavier than aluminium. In this context Joseph says, “We wanted to make it with conventional materials.” It was thought so to keep the cost low by Indian perspective. Another aim of Bajaj was to provide high mileage for their four-wheeler i.e. 35 km per litre. The wanted their RE60 to a powerful and compact. Joseph said that, “The rear passenger seat sits over the engine, unlike a conventional product. So the entire engine had to be very compact. It’s flat so that you could achieve the lowest possible height for the rear seat.”

After fulfilling the criteria if performance, innovation and cost, they faced another problem of space. Joseph reacts, “How were we to squeeze a five-speed gear box in the small space? The packaging had to fit in a tiny space and yet be serviceable from certain specific points.”

The R&D team of Joseph, who has worked for the past 22 years for Bajaj, feels proud to have the most experienced design team of 850 members. He says, “We are not a bunch of guys nominated to go and buy technology. Whether is bikes or cars, we do it ourselves.” Lack of air condition becomes a point of criticism in the Auto Expo. But Joseph mocks to this by saying, “Open the Windows.”