Scooter and motorcycle maker Bajaj Auto Ltd. rolled out its latest offering, Saffire, India’s first four-stroke scooter with automatic transmission from its new plant at Chakan, 35 km from Pune, on 20 October. It also used the occasion to inaugurate its new plant at Chakan.

The 92cc Saffire has a three-speed automatic transmission and self-start. Its earlier four-stroke scooter, Legend, was a geared vehicle.

"The new plant at Chakan will specialise in plastic bodied and tubular structure scooters," says a senior company official. These would include the latest models, including Saffire, the sales of which are expected to reach 10,000 in the year ending March 2000.

"We shall also make a new four-stroke scooter here; it is being developed with Cagiva of Italy," the official said. The new vehicle is expected to be showcased in the next fiscal year. The production of the 60cc scooterette, Spirit, will also be shifted to the Chakan plant.

"We expect to reach an annual production level of 300,000 vehicles of all types at the new plant over a two-year time frame," said the official.

This is Bajaj Auto''s third plant, built with an investment of Rs 300 crore in the first phase. The company has two plants, also in Maharashtra, at Akurdi, near Pune, and Waluj, near Aurangabad.