India Yamaha Motor (IYM), which recently forayed into the fast-growing scooter segment, has appointed Masaki Asano as deputy managing director to head sales and marketing operations in the country.
In his new role, Asano will be responsible for driving sales as the company looks to grow four-fold over the next four years. Yamaha, currently, accounts for around 2.5 per cent of the domestic two-wheeler market.
Before moving to India, Asano was president, Yamaha Motor Vietnam. He has over three decades of experience and has worked across geographies since joining Yamaha Motor Company in Japan in 1981. Asano has headed sales functions in Indonesia, Portugal and Italy and was put in charge of the central and south American motorcycle market in 2003.
Asano’s appointment in India comes at a time when the company is eyeing sales of two million units by 2016. Yamaha Motor recently launched an automatic scooter, Ray, and is expecting nearly 30 per cent of sales in the two-wheeler segment to come from the new offering. While the bikes in the 150cc category are expected to remain its forte, contributing over 40 per cent to total sales, the company is hoping to rapidly increase its presence in the mass commuter segment where it, currently, has near negligible share. It would be a challenge for Asano to grow Yamaha’s share in the mass market dominated by strong and established brands such as Hero and Honda.
To boost volumes, the company is also planning to export a fifth of its production from Chennai, where it is setting up a new facility. Yamaha has announced an investment of Rs 1500 crore to set up a new plant in Tamil Nadu and enhance capacity across its existing units.
Asano shall be reporting directly to Hiroyuki Suzuki, CEO & Managing Director, India Yamaha Motor.