Yamaha to double output to 1.8 million units by 2018

The scooter sales in Tamil Nadu constitutes 40 per cent of the Indian entity’s sales, notes Roy Kurian, Senior VP, Sales and Marketing, Yamaha Motor India Sales. “Of this, we see sales in Chennai evenly distributed between scooter and motorcycles as the trend to use the former as a medium of transport is on the rise,” he said, adding in Kerala, scooter sales were pegged at 70 per cent. 

Of the total 16 million two-wheelers sold in India across brands, the scooter category is estimated to have contributed 5.5 million units last year. Yamaha pegs its market share at 20 per cent of the overall sales. With scooter driving the sales trajectory of the wholly-owned Indian subsidiary  of Japan’s Yamaha Motor Company, the company is seeing its product portfolio split equally between motorcycles and scooters in six months. 

Kurian is bullish on the upcoming festive season when he is confident of selling one lakh vehicles per month with scooters contributing 60 per cent of sales. “Our domestic target is to achieve the 9 lakh vehicles mark this year,” he said, adding last year, the company had sold about 7.5 lakh vehicles. On a global scale, Yamaha’s sales were about 6 million, of which the Indian operations generated sales touched the 1 million-mark.

The BS-3 to BS-4 switchover emission norms forced the company to resort to “desperate” sales measures and cutting production in January this year to 35,000 units against the 75,000 units planned. 

It would add 60 to 70 dealers this year and a capex of Rs 300 crore had been lined up over the next two years, that would include setting up a new line in the Chennai facility, Kurian added. 

The company opened its first scooter boutique ‘Bikerz’ in the city on Friday. The new marketing strategy is expected to incrementally boost sales by 20 to 25 per cent.