Yamaha confirms 250cc bike for India

Yamaha is planning to export a bunch of it’s commuter motorcycles to Africa to shore up it’s revenues. Now, for you the Indian motorcycle enthusiast, that is something as boring as say Kareena Kapoor in a ugly green jump suit. But what you will definitely please you is the fact that there is official word emerging from Yamaha India, that there is indeed a 200-250cc motorcycle lined up for the Indian motorcycle market in the future.

While it still remains unclear as to how quickly Yamaha India will launch the 200-250cc motorcycle to ensure that it remains in the thick of things in the very hot 250cc premium motorcycle market in India, which of late is seeing plenty of action. If you’re an Indian motorcycle enthusiast, there’s no better a time to start saving up.

We’re hoping that Yamaha bikes brings it’s latest 250cc offering soon as arch rival Honda has just launched the 2011 Honda CBR250R to an overwhelming response and is targeting no less than 30,000 units per year in sales. One bummer of course is the fact that Yamaha India will launch a 150cc scooter only after the next two years. So, all those of you expecting the zany Yamaha BW125 may have to wait for longer as scooters don’t yet seem to be Yamaha India’s priority for now.

Meanwhile, here’s what Hiroyuki Suzuki, the new managing director and chief executive ofYamaha India, had to say.

We are in a very severe condition. But we aim to break even by 2013 as we are increasing our production capacity. We plan to raise the capacity of this plant to one million and, by 2013, in the domestic market we aim to sell 800,000 units and 200,000 to be exported. The African markets need basic models such as Crux and FZ and we will export YBR to South America. In Africa, you see three types of motorcycles—mopeds, scooters and street models of motorcycles. These motorcycles are also used for commercial purposes. I mean a rider can have two pillion sitting behind him and he can charge fare from them. So, we will have to change specifications of the bikes, which we plan to export. We may need at least two years before we come up with a scooter in the 150cc segment. Going forward, we will bring in motorcycles in the range of 200-250cc.