XSR155 launch in India? Why hasn’t it happened yet? Why is Yamaha not considering it despite so much of hype and demand…
Yamaha’s 155 family is extremely popular in India-like countries and as a result the Jap has spawned multiple motorcycles on it. Majorly a sports-motorcycle platform, Yamaha has the most popular R15 in the faired sports segment, MT15 in the street naked segment and the XSR155 in the retro segment. In fact, this engine platform has gone to the extreme of spawning an off-roader under the name of WR155! If that is not all, Yamaha also has developed a few scooters using this very engine (Aerox, Nmax).
Out of this it only sells the R15 and the MT15 in India in the motorcycle segment and recently brought in the Aerox as well. While the WR155R would be too niche, enthusiasts here have been waiting for the XSR155 for a long time now. Instead, Yamaha developed an XSR-like motorcycle on the utilitarian FZ platform – which was called as the FZ-X specially for India.
Yamaha does not share the individual numbers of 150cc FZ motorcycles and hence we will never know how much is the X doing in isolation, but quite clearly, the motorcycle hasn’t clicked and hence, we do not see a lot of them on the roads. That begs the question – what is stopping Yamaha from bringing the XSR155 to India?
For some reason, the Jap took extra pains to develop an India specific retro-looking motorcycle, when it simply had the XSR ready and selling in many countries of the world! Here are a few quick pointers for you (and Yamaha) to ponder over…
- In FY22, R15 and MT15 – the 2 motorcycles of this platform did over 1.18 Lakh unit sales in India which is an average of almost 10,000 units a month.
- This number increased to almost 1.90 Lakh units in FY23, inferring an average of whopping ~16,000 units a month! Remember, we are talking about a 150cc motorcycle that costs about Rs 2 Lakh on road, or more!
- The utilitarian FZ platform accounted for total sales of ~1.94 Lakh units, which means that both these platforms had a difference of about 4000 units, ONLY! Needless to say the costlier 155 motorcycles got Yamaha larger revenue and much higher profits!
- Barring Royal Enfields, I can’t recall any Rs 2 Lakh motorcycle that sells in such massive numbers (and that too being a mere 150cc!).
It is still a mystery who at Yamaha India decided against the XSR and an even bigger question is who approved the FZX project. It is a given that chances of XSR working here are more than the FZ based X.
Now that we have already discussed the business perspective and sales numbers above, here is another interesting pointer…
2023 Yamaha FZX Launched – List of All Changes
The XSR is the cheapest of all the 155 motorcycles sold in Indonesia and Thailand (barring the Vixion 155). It is placed under the R15 as well as the MT15 which suggests that it should be a similar placement here in India, now that Yamaha is confident of selling its 155 platform at its current prices.
The MT15 costs about Rs 1.65 Lakh ex-showroom, which means the XSR155 could be a lovely prospect at around that Rs 1.50-1.60 Lakh mark – much better than FZ-X (that retails at around Rs 1.35 Lac).
Does Yamaha still think otherwise…?
