Yamaha's 3rd plant in India poised for May inauguration

Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer Yamaha's new facility here will be formally up and running next month, a top official said today.
The company is setting up the plant at Vallam Vadagal in Kancheepuram district at a cost of Rs 1,500 crore to be invested in phases. The plant would initially have a total capacity of 4.50 lakh units per annum, which can be scaled up to 18 lakh by 2018.
"Currently, trial runs are happening there. The formal inauguration of the plant will begin next month," India Yamaha Motor Vice-President, Marketing and Sales, Roy Kurian told reporters here.
India Yamaha Motor currently has two plants at Faridabad in Haryana and Surajpur in Uttar Pradesh. The Chennai plant would be the third facility for the two-wheeler manufacturer.

The inauguration of the new plant comes at a time when the Tamil Nadu government is planning to hold the Global Investor Meet in May, showcasing the state as one of the preferred FDI destinations.
On the company's outlook for the year, Kurian said it plans to sell 17 lakh units by 2018 from the present 5.50 lakh.

"This year, we are expecting to sell around 8 lakh units. Then, we will be increasing to 11-12 lakh and later 17 lakh," he said, responding to a query.
Speaking about the company's launch of 125-cc Saluto, he said it was the third product from the Chennai plant after 110-cc scooterettes Ray and Alpha.

"We are at present in high-end premium bike or superbike segment. Next, we are in deluxe segment. Then, we have the scooters and now, we have the executive commuter segment with today's launch (Saluto). We will be looking at the mass segment," he said.
"Currently, we have some 400 dealers. We plan to add 150 more. Some 80 per cent of them will be rural areas," he said.
On the exports front, Kurian said the company was exporting to about 60 countries and would also look at shipping today's launch Saluto to overseas market. The company exports to Latin America, ASEAN and African countries.

He said 45 per cent of sales came from scooters while the remaining from motorcycle segment. "We expect it to go 50:50 in future," he said.