Yamaha mulls exports to South, Central America

August 20, 2012: After exporting the first batch of the India-made R15 motorcycles last month for sale in Japan, India Yamaha Motor is now exploring the options of exporting the portfolio of SZ, FZ series and R15 bikes to South and Central America. The company, which is also expecting fresh orders from Japan, currently exports the made-in-India bikes to 15 countries including the SZ and FZ series to Philippines and South Africa.

India Yamaha Motor aims to achieve over 95 percent localisation once the upcoming Chennai plant becomes fully operational by 2014. To attain this, the company is looking for local component suppliers and in January this year set up a Procurement Centre at Surajpur in Uttar Pradesh. Besides new vendor research, this centre is working towards securing a 100 percent localisation rate for the company’s Indian operations. Yamaha now also exports the components to Indonesia from Surajpur.

The company’s ambitious plans include setting up a total annual production capacity of 2.8 million units by 2018 and an export target of 20 percent of the annual production by the same year. Meanwhile, Yamaha has also opened the bookings of its first scooter – the Ray – which will roll out in September.

On May 14 this year, India Yamaha Motor had signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government for setting up a new two-wheeler factory on the outskirts of Chennai. While construction is scheduled to begin in September 2012, completion and start of operations are planned for January 2014. The planned investment in the new project is around Rs 1,500 crore over the next five years.

AMIT PANDAY