Yamaha makes a grand entry in the Indian scooter segment launches the all new RAY
Invites recently appointed Brand Ambassador Deepika Padukone to unveil the product.
Hyderabad, 14th September, 2012: India Yamaha Motor unveiled its much awaited sporty and stylish scooter, the all new RAY, in Hyderabad today. With Ray, the Company formally announced its entry into the rapidly growing Indian scooter segment. RAY is the first Yamaha model to enter India's scooter Segment and is strategically positioned to expand Yamaha's share in the Indian market. With the addition of the scooter Ray in its portfolio, India Yamaha motor is looking at a market share of 20% in the scooter segment by 2016.
Yamaha's decision to enter the scooter segment in India was arrived at by seeing the huge demand that this segment is witnessing in the country, with college students and young working women showing increased affinity to purchasing light weight and highly efficient scooters. The new RAY has been designed and engineered to answer the needs of this growing class of young female customers who want a scooter that is stylishly designed, compact, easy to use and have a fresh new appeal. The company also took this opportunity to invite Bollywood actress and India Yamaha Motor's Brand Ambassador for 'Ray', Ms. Deepika Padukone to unveil the all new product.
The new RAY offers best in class acceleration, easy handling Et maneuverability and good fuel efficiency. It is equipped with an air-cooled 4-stroke 113cc engine with CVT (Continuous variable transmission) that boasts excellent reliability. The engine achieves good fuel economy in the practical-use speed range, a power output characterized by smooth start-up acceleration and quick passing acceleration and more. The body has fresh, innovative styling based on a design concept of being "Sophisticated Et Dynamic," and is full of fine touches that women will appreciate, like a seat designed with easy leg reach to the ground and ease of mounting in mind, ample storage space and easy to operate center and side stands.
At the launch, Mr. Hiroyuki Yanagi, President and CEO of Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd., said "For the global Yamaha Motor group, India Yamaha Motor holds great importance as a strategic production and sales base. By 2018, our total production capacity in India will reach 2.8 million units. At that point, India will play an extremely important role among Yamaha group, not just in supplying to the Indian domestic market but also in exporting to other markets around the world. We will be working aggressively to transfer our latest technologies to India in the hope of making every contribution we can to the development of India's two-wheeler industry"
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Hiroyuki Suzuki, CEO Et MD, India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd. said, "I am positive that we can get a strong presence soon in the Indian scooter market. Our dealers in India are dedicated to improving their facilities and services for the scooter sales. We have expanded our dealer network and specially improved customer care quality for female customers by appointing more female staffs at customer contact points and introducing female customer care programs."
"Secondly, we made an announcement to build a new factory in Chennai. We are planning to start this new factory from 2014 January. With this production capacity expansion, we are targeting to achieve 1 million units sales in 2014. We will expand our total production capacity further in the long term. We are planning to expand our sales to 2 million units in 2016 and 2.8 million units in 2018", he added.
The company has T started a new assembly line for scooters which is run entirely by women employees. This is the first time n India that a company has developed scooters for women assembled by women. e company has also developed a riding training program for female customers. The riding training program is named as Yamaha Female Riding Training program and will be implemented across India. This model will be manufactured and marketed by Yamaha Motor group company India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd. (IYM) and will be available in Plush Pink, Purple Pastel, Shining Blue, Burgundy Bliss, Grey Grandeur and Black Star colors. It will be priced at 46,000/- (Ex-showroom Delhi). Market and Product Background The Indian motorcycle market has a current annual demand of approximately 13 million units (Yamaha Motor survey, 2011 results) and, with factors like continuous strong consumer spending and population growth, this demand is expected to surpass China's within 2012 to make India the world's largest motorcycle market.
Within this market, the scooter category, which accounted for about 11% of total demand at approximately 900,000 units in 2006, has grown rapidly over the last five years to reach about 18% of total demand at roughly 2.4 million units in 2011.
Most recently, the market has seen a cooling down of consumer confidence and more due to factors like the rising price of gasoline and continuing high interest rates on loans. While this has caused a slowing of market growth overall, continued growth in the scooter category is still expected as the growing number of women entering society with a need for personal mobility increases the pool of potential scooter users. In India's scooter market, the main model types are larger-bodied models with a sense of weight and volume targeting male users and models intended to be shared in use among the whole family. But, there were growing calls for an easy to use, compact model that fit the needs of a growing number of female users. The new RAY has been designed and engineered with this market background in mind and also with the aim of targeting young women for whom design and fresh new appeal are important.
About India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd.
Yamaha made its initial foray into India in 1985. In August 2001, Yamaha India became a 100% subsidiary of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd, Japan ('(MC). In 2008, Mitsui Et Co., Ltd. entered into an agreement with YMC to become a joint-investor in the motorcycle manufacturing company "India Yamaha Motor Private Limited (IYM)".
IYM operates from its state-of-the-art manufacturing units at Surajpur in Uttar Pradesh Et Faridabad in Haryana and produces motorcycles both for domestic a export markets. With a strong workforce of more than 2,000 employees, IYM is highly customer-driven and has a countrywide network of over 400 dealers. Presently, its product portfolio includes VMAX (1,679cc), YZF-R1 (998cc), FZ1 (998cc), Fazer (153cc), FZ-S (153cc), FZ (153cc), SZ-X Et SZ-R (153cc), YZF-R15 Version 2.0 (150cc), 5S125 (123cc), YBR 125 (123cc), '(BR 110 (106cc) and Crux (106cc).
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