Yamaha India has today announced their second Research and Development centre in India. Located inside the Chennai facility in Kanchipuram district, the new centre has been aimed to utilise both the Surajpur and the Chennai plant to the fullest. The new R&D department sees an investment of Rs 66 crores which is a part of the total Rs 1,500 crores set for India by 2018.
The Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Research and Development India, Mr Yasuo Ishihara, has confirmed that the manufacturer will be utilising this facility to initially develop products for India. Global products too are set to originate from this new facility. It would be wise to expect smaller products to emerge from this centre initially, the company eventually plans to develop ‘higher specification’ products, both for India and the world.
Considering how their 150 cc sales have shrunk in the last few years, the facility might see something in the capacity range first. Now speculating products may lead to a huge list, I strongly believe this new facility further cements Yamaha’s commitment to the Indian market. In fact, just like Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki, its Japanese peers, too have learnt the cost effectiveness of having an Indian R&D arm. To give you an idea the Gixxer contains several inputs by the Indian arm while the Navi is a completely indigenous project.
The facility also confirms that a lot of products can be expected for the Indian market in the future after all no one would build two R&D centres for a couple of products. Yamaha currently is but a small player in the Indian market but with volumes growing thanks to launches like the Saluto and Fascino, and possibility of new products lined up for the future, it would not be wrong to expect their share to show a radical and quantum jump in the future.
This is the 5th R&D headquarter for the Japanese manufacturer with the other four located in Italy, Taiwan, China and Thailand.
But hey, I know I am being overly optimistic, but Yamaha, can we please have an ‘R’ developed in India someday soon?
