The Bajaj Qute has four wheels but it’s not a car! It is actually India’s first ‘Quadricycle’. The Qute is between a three-wheeler and a car. It is essentially a new segment of vehicles where it does not replace the three-wheeler nor is it the alternative to a car. It is conceptualized for intra-city travel rather than inter-city travel, as it requires very less parking space.
The Bajaj Qute measures 2752mm in length, 1312mm in width, and it is 1652mm in height and it weighs 452 kg. It is built around a high strength steel monocoque chassis and the body panels are made of plastic to keep the weight down and also are easily repairable and replaceable. The interiors of the Qute are kept simple and bare minimum and does not come with air conditioning, but instead Bajaj has a air induction styled vent to ventilate air inside. It comes with four standard seats and the engine is placed at the rear, which allows some luggage space under the front hood.
The engine on the Bajaj Qute is a 216cc, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled motor producing 13.2 HP of power and 18.9 Nm of torque on the petrol model and 11 HP of Power and 16.1 Nm of torque on its CNG variant coupled to a 5-speed sequential manual gearbox. The top speed of the Bajaj Qute is limited to 70 kmph. The Bajaj Qute comes equipped with 12-inch alloy wheels.
The Qute returns a mileage of 35 kmpl on petrol and 43 km/kg on CNG, tested and certified by ARAI.
Bajaj has already launched the Qute in:
- Gujarat
- Kerala
- Rajasthan
- U.P
- Orissa
And now Maharashtra has become the sixth state where Bajaj has priced the Qute at INR 2.48 lakh ex-showroom for the petrol variant for personal use and for commercial use a CNG variant will be priced at INR 2.78 lakh ex-showroom.
Until last year, quadricycles could only be registered for commercial purposes. But now the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways have allowed quadricycles to be in the ‘non-transport’ category.