Yamaha to launch gearless scooters
Yamaha Motor Company Ltd is studying the Indian market to launch its gearless scooters here. “This is a lucrative segment and we are studying the market to see which ones we can offer to our Indian customers,” said Pankaj Dubey, national business head, sales and marketing, Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt Ltd, on the sidelines of the opening of its first lifestyle company-owned showroom in Mumbai on Monday.
Yamaha has gearless scooters ranging from 50 cc to 500 cc. “We can get anyone of them like Jog, Tmax or Majesty (150 and 250 cc), depending upon which has a demand in India,” said Sanjay Tripathi, department head, product planning and strategy, Yamaha India. Yamaha, that aims to achieve 10% market share in India by 2010, admits that it has been a laggard in the Indian market due to low visibility and is now busy strengthening its dealer and service network with new model offerings lined up for the market. It is ramping up capacity at its Surajpur plant in UP keeping its future plans including gearless scooters in mind. The expansion is expected to be complete by September, 2009.
A total of eight lakh per annum capacity is planned by 2010 from the existing four lakh units per annum taking Faridabad in Haryana and Surajpur together.
“We expect to break-even in India in the next two years,” said Tsutomu Mabuchi, CEO & MD, Yamaha India, adding that the company has earmarked an investment of Rs 800 crore over the next three years that will go into the upgradation of plant, marketing and dealership expansion.”We plan to have 380 dealerships by this year end,” he added. The company is also setting up Yamaha touch points in the country for servicing its bikes.
Yamaha will be launching two new bikes in the 125 cc and above segment next year. It is launching FZ 16 (150 plus cc) the coming Saturday which will be priced in the range of Rs 65,000 to 70,000 (ex-showroom price).
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