Cab hailing service Uber has announced a new category on their smartphone application, called UberXS. The UberXS allows customers to book the Bajaj Qute quadricycle and the service is limited only to users in Bengaluru as of now. The new category is placed above the auto rickshaw hailing category UberAuto.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has added the quadricycle to the non-transport category in November last year making it available for personal use and the Qute was launched in the state of Maharashtra in April 2019 at the price of INR 2.48 lakh ex-showroom. The Bajaj Qute comes under the ‘quadricycle’ segment of motor vehicles and is one of the smallest production four-wheelers in the country.
The Bajaj Qute measures in at:-
- Length: 2752 mm
- Width: 1312 mm
- Height: 1652 mm
- Wheelbase: 1925 mm
- Turning Circle Radius: 3.5 metres
- Seating capacity: Driver + 3 persons
- Weight: 452 kg (petrol) / 504 kg (CNG)
The Baja Qute is powered by a 216.6cc Four-stroke, twin spark-ignition, single cylinder, liquid-cooled engine which produces 13.2 HP of power and 18.9 Nm of torque on the petrol variant and 11 HP of power and 16.1 Nm of torque on the CNG variant. Both the engine variants are mated to a 5-speed sequential gearbox. The engine returns a fuel economy of 35 kmpl on petrol and 43 km per kg on CNG, tested and rated by the ARAI.
As of now, the UberXS is only offered in Bengaluru and we expect that Uber will add the option in more metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata etc in the near future.