The Bajaj Chetak is an Indian-made motor scooter produced by the

Bajaj Auto Bajaj Auto Limited () is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company based in Pune. It manufactures motorcycles, scooters and auto rickshaws. Bajaj Auto is a part of the Bajaj Group. It was founded by Jamnalal Bajaj (1889–1942) ...

company from 1972 to 2006. The Chetak is named after

Chetak Chetak or Cetak is the name given in traditional literature to the horse ridden by Maharana Pratap at the Battle of Haldighati, fought on 18 June 1576 at Haldighati, in the Aravalli Mountains of Rajasthan, in western India. The story Hi ...

, the legendary horse of the Great Indian Warrior

Maharana Pratap Pratap Singh I, popularly known as Maharana Pratap (c. 9 May 1540 – 19 January 1597), was a king of Mewar from the Sisodia dynasty. Pratap became a folk hero for his military resistance against the expansionism of the Mughal Empire under A ...

History

Originally based on Italian

Vespa Sprint Vespa Sprint is a 150cc, 2 stroke scooter made by Piaggio Piaggio & C. SpA (Piaggio ) is an Italian motor vehicle manufacturer, which produces a range of two-wheeled motor vehicles and compact commercial vehicles under seven brands: Piaggio ...

, Chetak was an affordable means of transportation for millions of Indian families for decades and is lovingly called ''Hamara Bajaj'' (Our Bajaj). Around 1980, the Vespa-licensed design was replaced with an all-new in-house design that shared the same general appearance and style. During its heyday its chief competitor was

LML NV The LML Star (also known as Star De Luxe in Europe or Stella in United States) is a model motor scooter manufactured by Lohia Machinery Limited in Kanpur, India between 1999 and 2017 and based on the italian Piaggio Vespa PX. History In 198 ...

made by LML India as a licensed copy of the

Vespa PX The Vespa P/PX Series is a range of scooters manufactured by Piaggio under the Vespa brand. History The Vespa PX was first presented in 1977 in Milan as the ''nuova linea'' model (new line). The Vespa was built with two drum brakes, a single-c ...

150. In the face of rising competition from bikes and cars, Chetak lost ground in India, and production was discontinued in 2005 as Bajaj Auto stopped manufacturing scooters altogether.

Chetak Electric

On 16 October 2019,

re-entered the scooter space by unveiling a new electric version of their Chetak scooter under the Urbanite EV sub-brand. The production of the Chetak Electric started on September 25, 2019, at the Chakan plant of Bajaj Auto. It was initially launched in Pune (4 dealerships) and Bangalore (13 dealerships) in January 2020 and was sold through select KTM dealerships.

Features

Chetak electric has features like reverse gear mode, key-less function, combo brake. It also gives an indication/warning of low fuel and low battery on a fully digital LCD screen.

References

External links

* Motor scooters

Indian motor scooters {{motorcycle-stub