Bajaj brought the beloved Chetak scooter back as an EV and became India's EV sales king.

The Chetak was Bajaj's icon through the 1970s and 1980s — the scooter of middle-class India — but it was discontinued in 2005 as the market moved on.

In January 2020 Bajaj Auto resurrected the nameplate for its first electric scooter: a modern, premium design with a Bosch battery and about 95 km of range, betting that heritage could ease Indian buyers into EVs.

Early sales were slow — the Chetak was relatively expensive and the retail network took time to ramp up, so for the first few years it looked like a low-priority project.

The turnaround came with expanded distribution, ramped capacity and sharper pricing: cumulative sales crossed 300,000 by October 2024, dispatches grew 160% year-on-year, and in December 2024 the Chetak knocked Ola's S1 off the monthly sales top spot.

Chetak passed 300,000 cumulative sales by October 2024, took 16% of India's electric two-wheeler market and knocked Ola off the monthly top spot.

The Chetak name carried decades of trust and emotional attachment for Indian buyers.

Launching under a heritage name made the first EV feel familiar instead of risky.

Bajaj's dealer network and service reputation gave the brand a safety net startups lacked.

Price and range repositioning in 2023-24 opened up the mass market.

A famous old name lowers the risk of a new technology; the trust it carries gets people to try the unfamiliar.

The Chetak became India's unexpected EV sales leader, ahead of Ather Energy and closing on TVS, and showed that legacy manufacturers could win the EV transition by pairing an old name with a new drivetrain.