Twenty five years after the Pulsar first changed Bajaj Auto's position in India's motorcycle market, the company is rebuilding two of the brand's oldest nameplates as competition intensifies in the segments that sit at the heart of its domestic motorcycle strategy. Recently, Bajaj unveiled ground-up updates to the 125 and 150, retaining their familiar "classic" identity while changing everything underneath. The move comes as both motorcycles face pressure at home, even as the Pulsar franchise continues to grow internationally.
- Pulsar 125 faces heat from the commuters and the sporty 125s
- Pulsar 150 has to defend a class that’s pressured by both 125s and 160s
- Exports are currently making up for the sales lost domestically
Classic Pulsar 125: Facing pressure from commuters and sporty 125s
Honda sells more commuters, Hero and TVS lead the sporty 125 charge
The Pulsar 125 competes in one of India's largest motorcycle categories, but Bajaj has lost ground in it. Honda dominated the category with 17.79 lakh units, or about 49 percent of the market. Bajaj was second with 7.93 lakh units, followed by Hero at 6.17 lakh and TVS at 4.27 lakh. The Honda Shine leads the category, but Bajaj’s Pulsar volumes fell by 3 percent. TVS Raider, meanwhile, grew 7 percent. Honda continues to dominate through its textbook commuter lineup as well as the new CB125 Hornet sporty commuter, while products such as the TVS Raider and Hero Xtreme 125R have brought sportier styling and performance into the category.
Classic Pulsar 150: Squeezed by the sporty 125s and 160s
The 150cc category has become niche in recent times
The Pulsar 150 sits in a much smaller and more volatile category. While domestic sales in the 125cc-150cc segment have risen by 49.5 percent April-August 2026, Bajaj has once more moved against the market. Its sales in the category fell 34 percent, reducing its market share to about 18 percent from nearly 42 percent. The divergence is significant: a market that expanded by almost half saw Bajaj's volumes reduce by a third.
The Pulsar 150 also faces a structural challenge now compared to its debut two decades ago. Sporty 125cc motorcycles increasingly offer the styling and equipment that was once limited to a 150cc machine. At the other end, 160cc motorcycles offer a noticeable step up in performance for a small step up in price. Bajaj itself is strengthening that end with new variants on the Pulsar N160. That leaves the classic 150 defending an increasingly niche space between more sophisticated 125s and more powerful 160s.
Bajaj has tried to modernise the 150 formula before. The P150 arrived in 2022 on a newer platform and was followed by the N150 in 2023. The N150 was subsequently withdrawn in 2025. Neither of those succeeded, so the latest strategy is different. Instead of replacing the familiar Pulsar 150 identity, Bajaj has retained it while substantially rebuilding the motorcycle underneath.
Exports: Bajaj’s counterbalance for falling sales
Bajaj is now exporting more 125s and 150s than it is selling in India
However, falling domestic sales do not tell the full Pulsar story. Exports have become an increasingly important counterweight for Bajaj. The company exported 22.50 lakh vehicles in FY2026, up 20.8 percent. Bajaj says its motorcycle exports grew about 17 percent in FY2026, compared with 10 percent growth for the industry. East Africa and South Asia were the biggest growth drivers, and Pulsar exports increased 18 percent to their highest-ever level.
In the 110cc-125cc category, Bajaj's exports jumped 42 percent in April-August 2026. The 125cc-150cc category shows a similar divergence. Bajaj's exports increased 10.6 percent, even as its domestic sales in the same displacement band fell by 34 percent. The contrast is important. Bajaj is losing domestic ground in both displacement categories this year, but export volumes in both are growing. The new 125 and 150 are part of a broader portfolio intervention. Recently, Joint Managing Director Rakesh Sharma said the company planned 10 model interventions before the festive season, including new motorcycles in the 125cc and 150cc segments under the Pulsar brand. Bajaj also undertook a series of pricing and product actions during FY26 to improve competitiveness in 125cc-plus motorcycles.
For the Pulsar 125, the task now is to regain share in a large market where Honda remains dominant, and Hero and TVS have strengthened their offerings. For the 150, the challenge is more unusual: recover volumes in a market that is expanding rapidly even as buyers gain more alternatives immediately above and below it.
With inputs from Darshan Nakwa, Anurag Chaturvedi, and Stephen Raj Antony.