Both TVS Motor Co and Bajaj Auto have clocked wholesales of 200,000 electric scooters for the first time in a fiscal year. The intense battle for supremacy between the top two legacy players has meant that the sales difference of 74,194 units in FY2024 in favour of TVS has reduced to 15,482 units in the first 11 months of FY2025, with March dispatches yet to be counted.
18 Mar 2025 | 1209 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
The Indian electric two-wheeler industry, which has hit record retails of over a million unitsand counting in the current fiscal year, continues to be dominated by four players – Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor Co, Ola Electric and Ather Energy. Of these four EV makers, the first two are well-established, ...
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The Indian electric two-wheeler industry, which has hit record retails of over a million units and counting in the current fiscal year, continues to be dominated by four players – Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor Co, Ola Electric and Ather Energy. Of these four EV makers, the first two are well-established, battle-hardened legacy players and other two, poster boys of the start-up world. And there’s an intense battle underway between Bajaj and TVS for supremacy.
As per the latest SIAM wholesales (dispatches to dealers) numbers, the sales gap between the TVS and Bajaj, which entered the market in the very same month – January 2020 – is currently 15,482 units after the first 11 months of FY2025. In FY2024, the two were separated by 74,194 units, both having hit their all-time highs – TVS with 189,896 iQubes and Bajaj with 115,702 Chetaks.
In FY2025’s first 11 months, both TVS Motor Co and Bajaj Auto have surpassed 200,000-unit sales for the first time in a fiscal and have clocked sale of 246,532 iQubes and 231,050 Chetaks respectively. As the 11-month data table above depicts, both companies registered their best-ever sales in the festive month of October 2024 – 30,644 Bajaj Chetaks and 29,127 TVS iQubes. In the 11-month period under review, TVS has outsold Bajaj Auto in May, July, August, September, January and February 2025.
The TVS iQube, which is currently retailed with three options – 2.2kW, 3.4kW and 5.1kW – and has five variants, maintains a strong resonance in the market. On the marketing network front, TVS Moor Co currently has around 750 dealers and sub-dealers spanning over 450 cities across India. The company, which has ample manufacturing capacity on hand, is strategically expanding the iQube dealer network.
What has given Bajaj Auto fresh verve in FY2025 is the rollout of the new Chetak 2901, priced at Rs 96,000 in June 2024. This strategic move to drop below the Rs 100,000 pricing has helped the Bajaj EV address the sub-Rs 100,000 segment, which accounts for nearly 50% of the overall e-two-wheeler market. On December 20, 2024, Bajaj Auto expanded its Chetak model portfolio with the launch of the new 35 Series which comprises three variants: 3501 (Rs 127,000), 3502 (Rs 120,000) and 3503 with an enhanced 153km range. The Bajaj Chetak portfolio now spans four variants – 2903 (Rs 99,999), 3202 (Rs 115,000), 3502 (Rs 120,000) and 3501 (Rs 127,000), all ex-showroom Mumbai.
As per Vahan data, the retail sales gap between the TVS iQube and Bajaj Chetak for the current fiscal year as of March 18, 2025 is 9,464 units.
RETAIL SALES: iQUBE AHEAD OF CHETAK BY 9,464 UNITS
As compared to wholesales numbers, which are essentially vehicle dispatches to dealers, the real-world market scenario is depicted in retail sales numbers.
As per the latest Vahan data (March 18, 2025), a total of 217,299 TVS iQubes have been delivered to customers in the April 2024-March 17, 2025 period as compared to 207,835 Bajaj Chetaks – a difference of 9,464 units in favour of the TVS iQube. While Ola Electric remains the market leader in terms of cumulative retails, the Bajaj Chetak was the best-selling e2W in December 2024 for the first time, followed it up with another strong showing in February 2025 and is currently at the top of the leader-board after the first two weeks of March 2025.
BRAND MATTERS
With stiff petrol prices and most Indian states offering plenty of incentives to accelerate electric mobility, both the Bajaj Chetak and TVS iQube should continue to see robust demand in the coming months, even as another legacy OEM – Honda – has just checked into the market with its Active:e and QC1 electric scooters.
In an expanding marketplace which is witnessing a number of new products being introduced, what ticks the EV sales boxes for both TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto is their strong brand image, well-developed and innovative in-house R&D capability and also reliable aftersales support.
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