Yamaha plans made in India bikes for the global market
Small displacement bikes are making a mark on recession ravaged global markets. After Hero Motocorp going global, it's Yamaha that is aiming to expand its low-cost bike market. Yamaha's made-in-India bikes are already being sold in European and Asian markets. But there will be a bigger push for exports from India for Yamaha.
Companies want to reap the advantages of low production and R&D costs in India. Yamaha also wants to build sporty and stylish small-displacement bikes which it will sell in Europe and Asia. As it stands, the YZF-R15 and the FZ are already being exported. Yamaha has also hinted at the option of developing higher displacement bikes in India and going global with them.
"India is a low-cost market, but we are not looking at just that. We want to develop sporty and stylish models from here and these would be for European markets and Asian markets," said Hiroyuki Yanagi, president and CEO of Yamaha Motor Co.
With a new R&D center at Surajpur (UP) on the lines of similar centres in Japan, Thailand, China, Taiwan and Italy, Yamaha is also trying to create an extremely low-priced bike, priced around INR 28,000/USD 500. Yamaha's automatic scooters have also found a market in India; its recent 'Ray' scooter for women has seen enough success to warrant, the 'Ray Z' variant aimed at male buyers.
Yamaha has a production capacity of 10 lakh units annually at Surajpur, UP. It is also building a new plant in Chennai, which will be active next year and will have an output of 18 lakh units by 2018. Yamaha believes the Indian market will become one of its top five markets by 2016 as it plans to roll out "many products and models". With the majority of sales now coming from outside Japan, made-in-India bikes are expected to catalyse Yamaha's expansion plans.