The scooter market in India is a HUGE and competitive market. It all started with Honda launching the Activa, and now it has grown so much that the consumers now have a host of options and different choices to consider before purchasing a scooter. Japanese two wheeler giant Yamaha had earlier avoided the scooter segment and did not have any products to offer in this segment, but they soon realized that they are losing a huge chunk of the market share to the manufacturers who have an offering in the scooter segment, and soon got to designing a scooter for the Indian market.
In 2012, Yamaha launched the Ray as their first offering in the scooter segment, and this scooter was targeted at the female consumers, they even went to the extent of introducing an assembly line for the Ray in which only women were employed, but they again realised that scooters were loved not only by women, but even men wanted a light, zippy scooter, so in came the Ray Z, this was essentially the same Yamaha Ray, but with new masculine colors and striking graphics which would appeal to men.
Yamaha seems to have shifted their focus completely on the scooter segment, as they had declared a year or two ago that, they would not launch any motorcycle till the end of 2015, but will focus on the more profitable scooter segment. The Ray and Ray Z were part of this initiative, and Yamaha will continue to launch new scooters in the next two years. The next-launch from Yamaha will be a unisex scooter, which they plan to launch in the first quarter of 2014, probably at the 2014 Auto Expo.
The Yamaha Indonesia Motor manufacturing (YIMM) had launched a calendar of 2014, in which there is a picture of the upcoming Xeon GT 125 scooter, and this might be this next-launch for Yamaha in India. Till now Yamaha had only a 109cc engine in the scooter segment, and by launching the Xeon 125 with the 125cc engine, Yamaha will expand its range and give the consumer more to choose from. And knowing Yamaha, we are sure that this will be one hell of a scooter to ride, you can call it a sporty scooter if you may, and the pictures too show sportiness written all over the scooter. We are eagerly waiting to see more products from Yamaha in the scooter segment.
Also see – Yamaha India to launch Activa rivalling scooter next-year
See more pictures of Yamaha Xeon GT 125 –
Image Credit – TMC blog
