Yamaha might be looking up for grabbing on to a major share in the Indian market, riding high on high sales of motorbikes and scooters. It is going for a top-down approach, where the most of the focus will be given to the major cities and later on the brand will move on to the Tier II cities. It was reported that Yamaha will be aiming to get hold of a double figured share by 2017. The Indian subsidiary of the Japanese two-wheeler company Yamaha will look deeper for selling more deluxe motorbikes (150 cc) and scooters.
Roy Kurian, Vice President of the Sales and Marketing segment of Yamaha made a public statement regarding this aspect. He said, "We are looking at 10% market share by 2017-18. We are still focusing on 150cc and scooters also. Scooter is another great opportunity as it accounts for 27% share of the two-wheeler market." The market has promised to be exceptionally good for two-wheelers in the last few months, especially for Yamaha models. "India is a huge market. Here, the demand may go up to 20 million by 2020. So, no two-wheeler manufacture can boast a market share, which is economically high. India is the only market where local players are as strong", he added.
Roy also added a few points about the company’s top-down approach going forward. "Rural market does not define what product we have to sell in the urban market. It is always the urban market which decides what has to be sold in the rural market. If a product is successful in metropolitan cities, tier-I and tier-II, it will surely be accepted in the rural market. We are not saying rural is not important for us."
Kurian also made comments about the brand revival that Yamaha has been going through in the last couple of years. "Yes, we are rebuilding our image. We cannot sell products with a 30-year-old image. I say it is a reincarnation of the brand."
