Bajaj Auto has recently officially launched prices for its Qute quadricycle in Maharashtra. While the petrol-engined variant for personal use costs Rs 248,000, the CNG variant for commercial use is priced at Rs 278,000 (ex-showroom).
Bajaj Auto in the past has already launched the Qute in a couple of Indian states including Gujarat, Kerala, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. The Qute is being produced in Bajaj’s Aurangabad plant in Maharashtra.
This unit has the capacity of manufacturing 60,000 units of Qute per year. It is interesting to know that Bajaj is already exporting its Qute to over 30 countries across Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe.
To make it popular among the masses, Bajaj will offer the Qute in six different paint schemes- golden yellow, jet black, arctic white, eco green and bright red.
The Qute quadricycle is powered by a 216cc, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine that develops 13.2hp and 18.9Nm of torque (petrol) and 11hp and 16.1Nm of torque on CNG. It comes with a five-speed sequential manual gearbox. Based on its size (2,752mm long, 1,312mm wide, 1,652mm tall and with a 1,925mm wheelbase), the Qute will be the smallest production four-wheeler on India’s roads.
It is meant to be an urban mobility option, the Qute weighs just 452kg (the CNG Qute weighs 504kg), has an ARAI-rated mileage of 35kpl on petrol (43km/kg on CNG) and a 7-metre turning diameter. The Qute quadricycle comes equipped with 12-inch alloy wheels.
Until November 2018, quadricycles could be registered only for commercial use – although the law has been changed recently, now that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has added quadricycles to the ‘non-transport’ classifications of vehicles.
Bajaj Auto has till now currently sold 627 Qute’s in the Indian market (in FY2019), since sales in the domestic market were only allowed recently. On the export side, the company has been shipping the quadricycle since FY2016 and has till end-2019 exported a total of 7,895 units.