Japanese bike-maker Yamaha has a good reason to cheer about. Yamaha Motor India has reported a 32.5% rise in sales number at 42,548 units in February 2014 as compared to 32,097 units reported in the same month last year. Roy Kurian, vice-president for sales and marketing, Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt Ltd, said, “This month has been very good for us with a lot of positive developments happening in the industry as well as at the company's front. Our robust results in the domestic market can be attributed to our strong product portfolio including the FZ and SZ series, Ray and Ray Z, and also our new family scooter - 'Alpha', which has been very positively received in the market. We shall continue with our endeavors to delight our customers through many new as well as existing customer engagement programmes.”
The slump in auto sales within the country is said to be the lowest one that was noted in past 11 years. P Chidambaram, said, “To give relief to the automobile industry, which is registering unprecedented negative growth, I propose to reduce excise duty.” As per the new excise duty regulations, Small cars, two wheelers and commercial vehicles shall come down to 8% from previous 12% that was payable till date. SUV segment is liable for 24% excise duty as against 30% that was payable earlier. The fall noted was nearly 9.59%. As per the Interim Budget 2014 the cut in excise duty shall be valid up to June 20, 2014. Excise duty on mid-sized cars will go down to 20% as against 24% noted in the previous year.
The Japanese bike-maker Yamaha had unveiled its fresh off the block scooter rechristened as Alpha at the recently held 2014 Auto Expo event. Roy Kurian, Yamaha Motor India’s VP – Sales and Marketing, said, “You can expect our growth and our focus more in scooters because it is going to drive volumes.” The scooter is launched at an attractive price tag of Rs. 49,518.
