Yamaha will be offering only premium commuter motorcycles and above from April 2020 in India and will discontinue several motorcycles and scooters below the 150cc category.
Yamaha is one of the biggest motorcycle manufacturers in India and now they have a new strategy in place which will see them exit from the commuter motorcycle space in India. In an interview with CarandBike, Ravinder Singh, Senior VP – Strategy & Planning, Yamaha Motor India, has said that the firm now plans to concentrate only on the premium commuter segment and above. This move will see Yamaha discontinue the Fascino, Alpha, and Ray-ZR 110 cc scooters as well as the Saluto 125 and Saluto RX 110 commuter motorcycles. Yamaha is also liquidating all their stocks of these motorcycles and scooters by March 31, 2020.
Yamaha recently launched the Fascino 125 FI and the Ray ZR 125 which are now the new entry points into the Japanese brand. Yamaha’s motorcycle range will start from the 150 cc segment. The 125 cc scooter segment has been growing in India and it promises to be a major contributor in the two-wheeler market – by as much as 22% – by 2025. Meanwhile, the industry is still going to retain a flat growth curve for 2020.
This move has been in development since 2018 when Yamaha commissioned its ‘Call of the Blue’ campaign in India to focus on their sporty range of offerings. They also did not have much success in the commuter space in India unlike other manufacturers like Hero MotoCorp, Honda or TVS. They did see some success with the Fascino 110 but that was the only success story among a wide range of products in the commuter scooter and motorcycles segment.
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The overall slowdown in the automotive industry has been another reason which saw every manufacturer take a hit on their volumes. Yamaha sold 6.24 lakh motorcycles and scooters for the calendar year 2019 and expects to achieve a sales figure of 6.50 lakh units in 2020. They intend to take their market share in the premium commuter segment from the current 8.5% up to 9.6% in the year 2020. They also intend to take their market share in the scooter segment up to 10% from the current 5% by the year 2025.
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Yamaha will begin their next year by launching the BS-6 compliant versions of their scooters and motorcycles. The Fascino 125 and the Ray ZR 125 will be launched in January while the BS-6 MT-15 will follow in February. They are new products on the horizon as well. That said, the Yamaha YZF-R3 may not receive the BS6 upgrade immediately. Recently, Yamaha inaugurated their new Blue Square dealership, revamping the showroom for a premium look and plans to add 100 more outlets in 2020. The new Blue Square outlets will replace the existing dealerships at several locations and will retail the entire range along with accessories, merchandise and motorcycle gear.
