Bajaj Freedom 125 Sales Cross 5,000 Units

With the Freedom 125, Bajaj Auto revolutionised the commuter market. The Freedom 125 is the world’s first production-spec CNG motorcycle to ever go on sale. The shift to CNG as a fuel was to bring the running costs down and Bajaj claims over 100km/kg of CNG and that according to the company is good enough to halve running costs. The other aspect of the Freedom 125 is the pricing. Despite packing so much technology, the starting price for the CNG bike is under  ₹1 lakh (ex-showroom), which is great value.

(Also Read: Opinion: Bajaj Freedom 125 - Opportunities, Challenges & Future)

Sales for the Bajaj Freedom 125 were restricted to Maharashtra and Gujarat at the launch time. This was done so that both these states have better CNG pump infrastructure than others. However, given the interest it garnered nationwide, Bajaj Auto quickly expanded sales to over 77 locations, and the company received over 30,000 enquiries. The expansion of dealerships meant that Bajaj Auto managed to sell 4,109 units of the Freedom 125 in August 2024 and thereby managed to breach the 5,000 unit sales mark. 

Now 5,000 unit sales isn’t a great number for a commuter motorcycle, but one also needs to factor in that Bajaj has been very cautious in their approach. The first step for the company was to streamline manufacturing as the Freedom 125 is manufactured at its Waluj plant in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (Aurangabad). Production will likely escalate from the current 10,000 units to around 30-40,000 units based on demand. With the festive season kick-starting in September, Bajaj hopes that the CNG bike sales will improve massively. Another crucial aspect in the success of the Freedom 125 is the growth of the CNG pump infra. 

Currently there are around 6,500 CNG pumps across the country, which will likely be doubled in the next couple of years. With the easy availability of CNG, demand and popularity for the Freedom 125 will also increase. Bajaj will also have to introduce the cheaper variants of the CNG bike as currently only the top-spec variant priced at ₹1.10 lakh (ex-showroom) is available on sale. The company has already started working on more iterations of the CNG bike, which is likely to make its debut in early 2025. The Freedom 125 has the necessary armour to disrupt the commuter segment, but it will need more time to make an impact, which is likely to be seen by the end of this year.