Yamaha has announced that it would widen its premium motorcycle portfolio with the introduction of a slew of new high-end bikes going forward.
The company seeks to stay as a premium brand in the Indian market focusing only on urban and semi-urban locations.
Yamaha India is not looking at the commuter bike segment where 100-110cc bikes are sold and this segment has also seen a fragile recovery in the post-Covid period. Since 2018, Yamaha has been focusing on introducing bikes in the higher-cc categories both in bike and scooter segments. Its current portfolio includes motorcycles in 149 cc -155cc, and 250cc categories, and premium scooter models in the 125cc and 155cc categories.
“Since Yamaha has been focussing on urban and semi-urban locations, we have seen a better recovery when compared with the segments that are dependent on rural markets,” Eishin Chihana, Chairman, of Yamaha Motor India Group of Companies told businessline. He added, “We are planning to roll out our first set of 300cc bikes – R3 and MT03 - within this year.”
New launches are to help in two ways. Firstly, the company seeks to offer upgrades to its existing set of customers who have been riding 155cc or 250cc bikes. Secondly, an increasing number of young buyers are looking for sporty and stylish bikes, where the company claims to have created a strong appeal. Thus, a widened portfolio is expected to bring incremental sales and market share, he added.
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Every year, young motorcycle license holders are entering the two-wheeler market. A good number of these youngsters want to ride a stylish and sporty bike as motorcycling has become a part of the lifestyle. The current younger generation buys bikes not just for transportation purposes, but also as a tool or medium to express themselves. So, they prefer a higher cc bike instead of a commuter motorcycle. Thus, our strategy is to focus on people in the age group of 18-25 years and become an attractive entry brand for those people, said Chihana.
Yamaha India would keep launching new higher cc bikes to attract existing and new buyers. The company will also launch its 700cc bikes -- YZF R7 and MT-07 for the Indian market in the coming years.
With easing chip constraints, it plans to ramp up its scooter capacity this year, and production capacity will start increasing from this April-June quarter. Last year, it focused on producing more premium bikes than scooters since high-end bikes carried more electronic parts as also higher price tags. Hence, Yamaha’s scooter sales were lower in 2022, while its peers managed to improve their scooter sales.
In 2022, the company sold 3.66 lakh motorcycles when compared with 3.01 lakh units in 2021, while scooter volumes were lower at 1.91 lakh units (2.21 lakh units). Exports were higher at about 3 lakh units when compared with 2.68 lakh units.
Dealer ramp-up
To support its future growth plan, Yamaha India will add about 120 new Blue Square showrooms, which are premium standalone retail outlets, offering products, apparel, and accessories. With this, the total count of Yamaha’s premium outlets will reach 300 by the end of this year. Yamaha has a total of 1,800 customer touchpoints, including the Blue Square outlets, in India.
Replying on capacity, he said the company was operating at about 65 per cent of the 1.5 million unit capacity and the available capacity will help meet the demand in the next few years.
“2018 was the peak period for the two-wheeler market when the volumes hit 21 million units. I think it will take another 2-3 years to reach this pre-Covid level of volumes. Our view is that the two-wheeler volumes may touch again the level of 21 million units by 2026”, said Chihana.