I have just received the August 2015 sales report from SIAM and the first thing I wanted to check was the new 250-300 cc battle ignited by the latest rage – Yamaha R3 and its impact on the erstwhile champ – Ninja 300! And what we see here is something surprising…. or is it..?
According to the report, Yamaha has sold as many as 140 R3s in India during the first month of its sale (or let us say a part of the month) and it appears majority of them were Ninja 300 prospects! In comparison, the Kwacker managed to sell only 15 units and add a couple (only!) of units of the sibling – naked Z250!
Just to give you a perspective, in July 2015, Ninja 300 alone managed 74 units. It seems there was no impact on the Duke or the RC390 and in fact, at 729 units, the twins managed to post an increment in month-on-month sales.
Last month we informed you that Yamaha has set a target of 200 unit sales per month for the R3 in India (link to report) and compared to an average of 90 units of the Ninja 300 (during the last financial year), it looked like a tall order. We can not be sure if the R3 will be able to achieve these figures with time, but what gets certain is that it will snatch a lot of the customers from Kawasaki fold.
Ninja 300, despite being a fantastic motorcycle in all regards, has started to look outdone and overshadowed by the tuning fork’ CKD flagship! Obviously these are first few days of the R3 and the initial hype will be high. Let us wait for a few more months to understand how will things turn up in this segment. You can read the First Ride Review of Yamaha R3 here.
