Yamaha to Develop Cheapest Bike of the World in India

Yamaha, the Japanese two-wheeler company on 9 April 2013 announced that it will soon roll out the cheapest motorcycle of the world in India. The price of this bike would be around 500 US dollar or 27000 Rupees approximately. The fifth global research and development centre for this will be established in Greater Noida, India.

Yamaha announced that India would be the global hub for low-cost bikes development. The bike will then be exported to different countries in Latin America and Africa.

The new entity of Yamaha, Yamaha Motor Research and Development India Pvt Ltd (YMRI) has started working for the development of this bike, which will first be launched in India. YMRI was established in February 2013 at Surajpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Yamaha also announced that the company would launch new scooter model every year till 2016 in order to strengthen the position in Indian markets. The second R&D centre will also be established by 2015 at upcoming Chennai facility.

The bike will have the engine capacity of 100 cc or more. The first step of the plan is to develop the cheapest bike of the world followed by the India-specific model. Later, it will be followed by global model.

The company planned to sell 7.1 lakh units of scooters as well as motorcycles in 2013, which will include 2.1 lakh exports. In 2012, Yamaha sold 4.9 lakh scooters and motorcycles.