World's Cheapest Bike to Come to India by Yamaha

World's Chepaest Bike by Yamaha

Yahama Motor Co Ltd, Japanese two-wheeler will produce the world's cheapest motorcycle at approximately about Rs 27,000 ($500). 5th global  R&D centre in Greater Noida has been setup by Yamaha to make India a hub of low cost bikes. Hiroyuki Suzuki, CEO & managing director, India Yamaha Motor Pvt Ltd, said "So far, we have been focusing on sporty, stylish and performance bikes in India. Now, we are looking to increase our presence in the commuter segment,". According to the statement of Toshikazu Kobayashi, managing director, YMRI, their target is to develop the cheapest bike which will cost approx $500 for both Indian and export markets. Without giving any timeline, Kobayashi said "The company is developing the bike with an engine capacity of 100 cc or more as smaller bikes with smaller engine do not have good balance. We will first launch the bike in India. However, we would also explore other markets like Africa and Latin America,". For enhancing its position in India, the company will be launching a new scooter model every year till 2016 and it will also setup a 2nd Research and Development Centre by 2015 in Chennai.

Yamaha's Plan for World's Cheapest Motorcycle

Acc. to their plan, the first step is to launch the world's cheapest bike following an India type model and a global model will succeed this. This move of Yamaha is a part of strategy for expanding its presence in the commuter segment especially in Indian market. Adding to their statement India Yamaha Motor (IYM) Chief Executive Officer and MD Hiroyuki Suzuki said that they are focussing on sporty, stylish and performance bikes in India and development of the product in India will give them some cost advantage and enable to price it competitively. Yamaha is planning to sell 7.1 lakh units of motorcycles and scooters this year, including 2.1 lakh of exports. IYM had sold a total of 4.9 lakh in 2012. "Our long-term target is to sell a total of 28 lakh units by 2018. We are aiming to sell 10 lakh units in 2015 that will include exports," he added.

Yamaha's Expection for World's Cheapest Bike

Suzuki said the Indian two-wheeler market is expected to touch 25 million units by 2020. In the mid term, the company is keeping eye on a market share of 10 per cent by 2016, when the market is pegged to be around 18 million units. At present the company has Ray, a lone scooter model, which is targetted at women customers. On motorcycles, Suzuki said the company will continue to offer new models both in performance and commuter segments without specifying details. In 2012, Yamaha had announced to invest Rs 1,500 crore to set up its third facility in India. The production from the new plant near Chennai will start by 2014 with an initial annual capacity of 4 lakh units, which will be expanded to 18 lakh units by 2018.
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