India Yamaha Motor is set to enter the two million-plus scooter segment in India.
The company?s national business head Pankaj Dubey told FE that the scooters would be suitable for Indian roads and not be a replication of products available globally.
?In India, somehow we have not entered this segment (scooters). But we would definitely enter…it may take some time. But we are working on that,? Dubey added.
The subsidiary of the Japanese two-wheeler giant Yamaha has started a feasibility study and an announcement is expected shortly. Yamaha is the pioneer of gearless technology for two-wheelers. In the overseas markets, Yamaha sells more scooters than motorcycles. In fact, scooters make up almost 80% of Yamaha sales in the Asian markets.
?In India, the situation is totally different. We are going to adopt a completely new strategy for our scooters,? Dubey said. He added that India is set to follow the global trend of motorcycle market growing but gearless scooters becoming popular.
Yamaha is scripting a top-down strategy for the Indian market. The company would concentrate on the 150cc plus segment. Most other motorcycle companies are looking to spruce up sales of entry-level bikes in the 100-125cc category. ?In line with our brand image we would concentrate on the higher engine capacity bikes. Though we have products in the 100-125cc segment, they have not been very successful. Hence we would focus on 150cc bikes,? Dubey said.
Currently scooters make up about 20% of the total two-wheelerin India.
Earlier this month TVS Motor chairman Venu Srinivasan had told FE that he expected scooter sales to account for around 35% of total two-wheelers in the next five years. TVS Motors is country’s third largest two-wheeler maker.