Yamaha Motor of Japan is planning to use India as one of its key global hubs for motorcycles and scooters.

Mr Hiroyuki Suzuki, CEO & Managing Director, India Yamaha Motor, told Business Line that while high-end models could be exported to the Asean region and Japan, low-cost models would be the best bet for emerging nations such as Africa. The idea is to optimise the robust ancillary supplier base here which offers the best in quality and a competitive costing structure.

For the moment, Yamaha has little going for it in India from the viewpoint of market share, but Mr Suzuki said all this was set to change during the course of this decade. The company will focus on gearless scooters as part of its strategy to clock volumes, while 150cc plus motorcycles will contribute to the brand-building effort.

“The scooter market is growing very fast in India and we would like to be part of this segment with the Yamaha DNA. We will focus on young women riders initially (with the Ray) before looking at other user categories,” Mr Suzuki said.

Force to reckon with

While it is still in the process of putting its India house in order, Yamaha has been a force to reckon with in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam where it wrapped up last year at 4.6 million units. India’s volumes were more modest at a little over five lakh units of which exports took up a third.

The company has targeted 6.4 lakh two-wheelers this calendar where exports will account for 1.9 lakh units. The one-million-mark has been set for 2015 by which time exports will account for 20 per cent (largely to Latin America and Asia). This component is gradually expected to increase post-2015 as Yamaha will focus on producing more in India for exports to Asean and Africa.

According to Mr Suzuki, India’s ranking in the Yamaha map will climb rapidly in the coming years from its present modest standing. This will go in line with its growing importance as a global production hub which may well see the country overtake traditionally strong Yamaha markets in the Asean region. Incidentally, this is also true for Honda which believes India will become its largest two-wheeler market (ahead of Indonesia and Vietnam) from 2015-16.

Procurement base

Yamaha will also use India as one of its four regional procurement bases to source parts for its global two-wheeler operations, the others being Japan, China and Asean. Its home base, Japan, will focus on technologies, while the global operations (primarily its Asean integrated development centres) will become more proactive in product development. India will join this list in good time as an intensely competitive market will require more local R&D efforts.

> murali.gopalan@thehindu.co.in

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