India Yamaha Motor (IYM) has entered into the 125cc scooter segment with the launch of Fascino 125 FI and Ray ZR 125 FI (BS VI versions), taking head on peers such as Honda, Hero, TVS in this fastest-growing scooter segment. The company also announced that it would be exiting the 110cc scooter segment after the launches of these two 125cc scooters.
Addressing the media here on Friday, Yamaha Motor India Group of Companies chairman Motofumi Shitara said, “Fascino is the iconic brand that Yamaha introduced in the Indian scooter market way back in 2015. Under the new strategic campaign, ‘The Call of the Blue’, its popularity exceeded customer expectations. The new Fascino 125 FI is introduced to elevate the trendsetting of fashion and lifestyle to the next level.”
The new scooter comes with new features and new engine technologies. It is available in new colours and has been priced between Rs. 66,430 and Rs. 69,930 with four different variants (ex-showroom Delhi). The company did not disclose the price of Ray ZR 125CC and said it would announce it later. Both the scooters would be made available effective January 2020, he said.
Motofumi Shitara said, “Though 2019 happened to be a challenging one for the industry in general and Yamaha in particular, but we see this is a temporary blip and expect the market to bounce back in the next few months. India holds huge potential for the company will now work aggressively to fortify its market in the 125cc scooter segment along with the motorcycle line up.”
IYM senior vice-president for strategy & planning Ravinder Singh said: “With the launch of 125cc scooters, the company will exit the 110cc segment completely. We have some small inventory of 110cc scooters at the dealers’ level and we hope to clear the same in the next few days. Our focus will be on 125cc scooter segment and with this two launches, we hope to increase our scooters sale further with improved market share in this segment.”
Speaking on the sidelines, he said: “The 125cc scooter segment is growing faster than the 110cc segment. Though the overall scooter industry sales declined sharply during the year but the 125cc scooter segment grew 3% during the year and the same expected to grow fast at 6-8% in coming years. Hence, the company has decided to exit the 110cc scooter segment. We will launch more scooters in the near future.”
On company’s total annual sales, Singh said: “We expect to end the calender 2019 with a 13% decline in our domestic sales to around 6.25 lakh units as compared to 6.87 units sold in the domestic market during calender 2018. But, with these two new launches and two new variants of 150cc bikes, we hope to end calender 2020 with a modest growth to 6.5 lakh units in the domestic market. Scooters expect to contribute 40% to our overall sales.”
On exports front, he said in calender 2019, the company will end up with 2.96 lakh units and in calender 2020, the exports will increase to 3.15 lakh units.
