Bajaj launches Freedom 125, world’s first CNG-powered bike
The bike offers a 330 km range combined with 65 km per liter from its 2-liter petrol tank and the rest from the 2-liter CNG tank
PUNE: Bajaj Auto, which has over 30 years expertise in the CNG segment in the three wheeler space, has repeated the same in the two-wheeler segment launching the world’s first bike powered by this greener fuel.
The 125-cc engine comes with a dual tank for CNG and petrol and the fuels can be manually or automatically switched.
The bike that was being made for over two and a half years and has eaten up a mountain of cash from one of the world’s most profitable two-wheeler maker which also is the most valuable automaker in India.
Union Transport and Highways minister Nitin Gadkari said over the next five years the country will be the second largest auto manufacturer in the world after China, having already overtaken Japan as the world’s third largest automobile market after the US and China just two months ago.
Speaking about the bike, which has been aptly named Freedom— given the fraught times our civil liberties are in now— he said if the bike is priced under Rs 1 lakh then the owner can recover the money in a few years given the mileage it offers and the lower cost of the fuel.
The bike offers a 330 km range combined with 65 km per liter from its 2-liter petrol tank and the rest from the 2-liter CNG tank. After the minster’s appeal on the price front, the company announced the entry model at Rs 95,000 and the mid variant at Rs 1,05,000 and the top variant at Rs 1,10,000.
Managing director Rajiv Bajaj parried a question on the investment that has gone into the bike citing issues of competition but said, “We have pumped in really big amount into the bike and that there is no point for the competition to try to ape us.”
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