Bajaj Pulsar: Changing the way Indians commute

By riding on the platform of power even as the rest of the industry was obsessing with fuel efficiency and price, Bajaj Auto changed the rules of the game with the brash, individualistic, testosterone-fuelled Pulsar.

Circa 2001: Bajaj Auto commissions a market research agency to survey how a newly-developed bike will be accepted in the market place. A mechanical engineer from the National Institute of Technology who joined Bajaj Auto in 1989 is one amongst the top team who meets the agency for feedback.

"The tank and exhaust are too big," droned the agency chief. "Reduce the size of the tank or else it will limit the relevance of the bike," he forewarned. The engineer patiently heard out the agency honcho. And ignored his advice.

"The very same tank and its character lines became the signature of Pulsar," he says more than a decade later - a period in which some 50 lakh Pulsars have been sold (till May 2012). Also Read: KTM Duke 200 or Bajaj Pulsar 200NS: What to buy?

The engineer in question is Abraham Joseph, now Bajaj Auto's chief technology officer, who has gone on to develop a series of wildly successful Pulsars - ranging from 135 cc to 220 cc - along with other thriving models like the Discover range.

But Joseph's biggest break - and for that matter Bajaj Auto's - is the blockbuster of 2001 that has earned him the sobriquet, 'Father of the Pulsar.' With good reason.

The Pulsar not only transformed the way Indians commuted, but also changed the DNA of the country's second-largest two-wheeler maker that till then had successful but staid models like the M-80, the rear-engine three-wheeler and of course the blockbuster scooter, Chetak.

Other than transforming Bajaj Auto into a respected maker of bikes, the Pulsar did plenty more for the Pune-headquartered company.