The two wheeler market in India is experiencing an exponential rise in sales of automatic scooters. Yamaha too decided to enter the market for its share of the pie with their Ray branded scooters. Majority of sales in the nation come from the 110 cc segment because it has the presence of the highest models of scooters.
Yamaha followed with Alpha but its only their latest Fascino which has so far managed to be a real success for the brand. According to the word they gave us, Fascino is shipping about 15000 to 20000 units a month. However, all their scooters share the same 113cc engine and compete in the already dense segment, led by Activa, Maestro and others.
In an exclusive interview, we caught up with Mr Roy Kurian, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Yamaha India, and asked him about their plans on scooters and if they have any intents of venturing into the bigger 125 cc and 150 cc segments. Here is what he said….
“We are just, like three years old in the scooter segment. I don’t think we need to think of getting some innovation done in the 125cc or 150cc because we have to look at 100cc segment it self, just like 80-90 per cent customers have. Looking at that, we would like to cater there and make our positioning and place there and we have been successful in doing that with Ray and RayZ. And now the Fascino. Fascino is really accepted very well. We are clocking almost 20,000 units a month approximately.”
This simply means that Yamaha will follow and play the wait and watch game and let leaders like Honda and possibly Hero make the 125 and 150 cc scooter segments and based on the response, they will think about getting in the game. This is not the Yamaha we have known but then this is what they feel makes business sense for them!
Also Read: For the First Time We Spot Yamaha FZ v2.0 With Ceat Tyres
They have also confirmed that they would not be bringing any small cruisers to India in the near future, more on which you can read here.
