Yamaha launches super bikes in India!

Excerpts from India Business Hour on CNBC-TV18 Watch the full show » Nifty BSE | NSE 25/05/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on Nifty?

After spending over two decades in India, Yamaha has for the first time brought its super bikes line-up into India, reports CNBC-TV18's Swati Khandelwal.

Yamaha has launched its much awaited 1000 cc R1 and 1670 cc MT01 in India at a price tag of 10.5 lakhs. The company will sell these bikes out of five outlets in four cities to begin with and will eventually expand it to 10 cities in six months.

Yamaha has struggled for years in India to grab market share and it has managed a mere 3% of the total two wheeler market. Now more than two decades later, the company has realised that it doesn't want to play the volume game; it will instead focus on the high-end niche market. Infact, the company also plans to launch its new retail identity soon, at the auto-expo in January.

Tomotaka Ishikawa, CEO & MD, Yamaha Motor India , says, "The superbike market is very small in India with as many as 500 bikes being sold every year. Yamaha plans to sell as many as 25 models of both R1 and MT01 in a year. The bikes will be available in Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune initially, but will soon ride in Mumbai, Chandigarh and Pune. Yamaha has said the timing of the launch of these high end bikes augurs well with the current Indian two wheeler market performance where 100 cc bikes are posting negative growth while high end bikes continue to grow.

According to sources, the company will launch models in the 150 cc segment with the technology used in its high end bikes and will refurbish its exisitng lineup for R6. The company is still waiting for the regulations to encompass 600 cc bikes. Currently, it takes care of only 800 cc bikes and above.