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Japanese two-wheeler maker Yamaha is eying a production capacity of 50 lakh units in India in next seven years for which it will consider setting up new manufacturing plants.
The Indian subsidiarity of the company, India Yamaha Motor, is also aiming to achieve a total market share of 10% in the country in the next couple of years.
"We are eyeing a production capacity of five million units by 2020. For that, we would require more manufacturing plants in the country," India Yamaha Motor CEO and Managing Director Hiroyuki Suzuki told PTI.
At present, the company has two plants in India, one at Greater Noida, which mainly produces two-wheelers, and another at Faridabad, where it manufactures spare parts only.
The Greater Noida plant currently has a manufacturing capacity of 10 lakh units per annum. Yamaha is also coming up with a manufacturing plant near Chennai, which will have a capacity to produce 18 lakh units by 2018.
He, however, said setting up of new plants and future long-term investments would be subject to how the Indian market grows.
"We are studying at the moment. It will depend upon the Indian market conditions, how the Indian GDP grows but we believe that there is a huge potential here," Suzuki said.
In the medium term, he said: "We are targeting a capacity of two million units by 2016. We plan to export 30% of the total capacity."
Commenting on market share, Suzuki said: "By 2016 we would like to have a combined market share of 10% in bikes and scooter segments."
The company currently has a market share of 5% in scooter segment and 3% in the motorcycle segment. It is looking at expanding its motorcycle and scooter segments to achieve the desired growth in the Indian market.
While a locally developed scooter and commuter motorcycle will hit the market by 2016, Yamaha will also strengthen its product line up in the higher end segment.
"Yamaha is strong in 150 cc segment today. We are focusing on the commuter segment, but at the same time we would like to introduce bikes above 150 cc in the future," Suzuki said but added the company won't enter the cruiser bike segment.
"We are confident about the long-term growth potential of India. We expect the economy to start getting better by 2017. It is a high potential market for us," Suzuki said.
On the sale front for this year, he said the company is looking at a total of around 6.7 lakh units as against 4.9 lakh units last year.
"We are targeting domestic sales of 4.6 lakh units and 2.1 lakh units in exports markets," Suzuki added.
In 2012, the company had domestic sales of 3.5 lakh units, while exports stood at 1.4 lakh units.
