According to Indian Express news India Yamaha Motor is planning to enter into scooter segment. Yamaha is preparing a feasibility report to study Indian scooter segment. It is expected that Yamaha will shortly make an announcement after completion of this feasibility report.
According to company officials the scooter will be specially designed by Yamaha for Indian road conditions. The scooter will be prepared from ground level and it will not be a replication of scooters which Yamaha sold globally. Yamaha is considered as a global leader in the gearless technology for two wheelers. Globally it has scooters ranging from 50cc to 500cc and they are known for their performance while not sacrificing on fuel efficiency front.
Pankaj Dubey, National Business Head, India Yamaha Motors said “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. He also added that “In India, the situation is totally different. We are going to adopt a completely new strategy for our scooters,”
Gearless scooter segment has seen continuous rise in demand since they launched in India. Currently gearless scooter segment accounts for 20% of total two wheelers sold in India. During April to October period it has shown growth rate of 52%. Total 11,63,127 units sold compared to 7,64,643 units in the same period. Although India is following global trend towards motorcycle, the gearless scooter segment is growing at faster rate compare to motorcycle.
According to TVS Motors chairman, Venu Srinivasan in future the scooter segment will account for 35% of total two wheelers sale. However Bajaj Auto left this segment last year stating that gearless scooter segment is not viable business. It seems like whatever segment Bajaj Auto left, has grown at faster rate proving it wrong. Same has been seen for 100cc motorcycle segment. The 100cc motorcycle segment grew at faster rate after Bajaj Auto exited the segment. Later, the company had to reenter 100cc motorcycle segment. So it may possible that Bajaj Auto will reenter in gearless scooter segment like they reentered in 100cc motorcycle segment.
