Bajaj recently unveiled its quadricycle, the Qute, which it will officially launch in Maharashtra, later this week. This past month, the ex-showroom prices in Delhi were revealed to be Rs 2.63 lakh for the petrol-powered variant and Rs 2.83 lakh for the CNG variant. On April 18, Bajaj will likely reveal the prices and registration type (commercial or personal) for a few other cities.
Until November 2018, quadricycles could be registered only for commercial use. That, however, changed when the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) added quadricycles into the ‘non-transport’ category of vehicles. Bajaj had earlier revealed that the Qute can be registered for commercial use in 20 states in India and for private use in 15. However, Bajaj had also told us that it is in the process of expanding to more states and the current list might be revealed on April 18.
Despite its visual appearance, the Bajaj Qute is not a car. The petrol Qute weighs in at 452kg while the CNG Qute weighs a fair bit more, at 504kg. Powering the quadricycle is a 216cc, single-cylinder, twin-spark, liquid-cooled engine. In petrol form, the engine makes 13.2hp and 18.9Nm of torque, while the figures drop to 11hp and 16.1Nm for the CNG version. Bajaj has also limited the top speed of the Qute to 70kph.
The Qute uses drum brakes at all four ends and also misses out on air conditioning. It also uses fibre doors, instead of ones made out of metal. Bajaj has said that, aside from the city-friendly dimensions, the low running cost and cost of ownership are the Qute’s key benefits. The company claims that the Qute (CNG variant) has a running cost of Rs 1.53 per km which, according to them, is lower than that of a motorcycle, which is an average of Rs 2.06 per km.
Rivan RS 
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Uday Singh
Suraj Viswanathan
