Yamaha sees ‘ray’ of hope in scooter business

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India Yamaha Motor (IYM) is eyeing the scooter segment in India that has registered a rapid growth in the last five years — from 9 lakh units in 2006, the demand has risen to 24 lakh units in 2011.

Betting big on this market, IYM launched its first scooter named ‘Ray’ on Friday in Hyderabad.

IYM CEO and MD, Hiro-yuki Suzuki said, “The scooter segment is growing rapidly here. We aim to sell 60,000 units of Ray this year and in the next year our target is to sell 2.5 lakh units. We will also come up with new models in this segment in future.”

IYM’s national business head, Roy Kurian, said, “The scooter business is expected to contribute 50 per cent of our revenue in the next two years.”

The auto major aims to sell 10 lakh units by 2014 and subsequently touch 28 lakh by 2018, Mr Suzuki said. The company currently holds three per cent of the market share and with the launch of Ray, IYM aims to corner 20 per cent of the market share in the two wheeler segment, he added.

IYM’s new facility in Che-nnai, which was announced in May, will be operational from January 2014.