The story
History
Bajaj Auto, of Pune, is the world’s biggest maker of the three-wheeled auto-rickshaw, and the Qute was meant to replace it.source 1source 2 It began in 2010 as an ultra-low-cost car developed with Renault and Nissan, aimed at a price of $2,500, 30 km on a litre of fuel and 100 g/km of carbon dioxide. The two partners withdrew.source 1source 2 On 3 January 2012 Bajaj unveiled the car at the Auto Expo in Delhi as the RE60, the letters standing for rear engine.source 1 German Wikipedia says that a concept had first been shown at the Auto Expo of 2008.source 2
By Indian law it was not a car. On 22 May 2013 the Government of India classified it as a quadricycle, a class new to the country, with an electronic limit of 70 km/h and use restricted to commercial work, as a replacement for the auto-rickshaw.source 1source 2 Production began that year at Bajaj’s Waluj plant at Aurangabad, in Maharashtra, at first for export.source 1source 2 How much it could make is told two ways: 5,000 a month by English Wikipedia, and 5,000 a year, rising to 60,000 once it was approved, by German Wikipedia.source 1source 2
Approval at home was slow. The planned Indian launch of 2015 was put off over safety concerns, and legal challenges and objections to its safety kept it off Indian roads until 2019, when, after six years of litigation, six states approved it: Kerala, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra.source 2source 1 Its Indian price is given as anything from ₹1.25 lakh to ₹2.5 lakh over the years; German Wikipedia puts it at about €1,900 at the start.source 1source 2
A rickshaw with four doors
The body is 2,752 mm (108 in) long, 1,312 mm (52 in) wide and 1,652 mm (65 in) tall, and it seats four.source 1source 2 Behind them sits a water-cooled single-cylinder four-stroke with an overhead camshaft and multipoint injection, of 216.6 cc in its European form, running on petrol, compressed natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas.source 1source 2 Its gearbox is of the motorcycle type: five speeds in sequence, plus a reverse.source 1source 2 It stops on discs in front and drums behind.source 2 English Wikipedia gives 20 hp (15 kW) and a kerb weight of 400 kg (882 lb); German Wikipedia gives 13.2 PS (9.71 kW), with 20 PS for another version, and 450 kg.source 1source 2 Bajaj claimed 35 km on a litre at the launch, and German Wikipedia records 36 km, or 2.8 litres per 100 km.source 1source 2
One star in Europe
Europe took it as an L7e heavy quadricycle. German Wikipedia says that exports to more than 35 countries were planned, among them Turkey, Sri Lanka, Russia, Poland and Ukraine, that Germany, Poland and Turkey were among its European markets, and that in 2018 it was offered online in the European Union for about €6,600.source 2 In Euro NCAP’s quadricycle tests of 2016 it earned one star. It had no airbags and its belts no pre-tensioners; ADAC scored it 4 out of 16 in the frontal test and 6 out of 16 in the side impact, found the passenger cell unstable, and saw a door come off in the side test.source 1source 2 No total of cars built or sold, and no end of production, has been found.
