Yamaha intends to set up global hub in India

India's largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Yamaha Motors intends to set up a global hub for manufacturing premium bikes in India. At present, the company is position fifth in Indian two-wheeler market. It's dominated by Hero Honda, Honda Motorcycles, Bajaj and TVS Motors. Yamaha Motors registered a three-fold raise in two-wheeler exports from India, driven mostly by the increasing international demand for high-end bikes. Indian unit provided 66,904 bikes in FY10 from Yamaha's global operation, as against 38,639 units in last fiscal 2008-09. Premium motorbikes were sold in the most of countries such as Philippines, Bangladesh, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. In Domestic market, Yamaha had sold 223,307 units, compared with 162,370 motorbikes in 2008-09. Yamaha's most exported bikes are Gladiator Type SS, FZ16, YZF-R15, Crux, Enticer, Alba and G5. "We will fully apply the infrastructural facilities that we have established in India to push our exports further," said Pankaj Dubey, national business head of India Yamaha Motor (IYM). Yamaha Motor has gained a 12 percent share of the $8 million two-wheeler market, its up from a share of 5 percent in 2006. Now, the company targets to grab 20 percent market stake in the deluxe and premium segment by the end of this year. "This class is very important for us, as presently its the main increase driver for our company" said Mr Dubey. The two-wheeler industry clocked growth of 26 percent in the domestic market and 13.54 percent in export market, according to the data by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers(SAIM). Dubey said that we are watching a huge demand for exports, which raised at 73 percent in the past year. Oppositely, demands for Yamaha bikes in India increased at 25 percent in the same period. Besides, Yamaha is also planning to introduce its two new bikes- Yamaha SZ and Yamaha YZF R125 by 2010-end. Apart from it, TVS Motor has commercially launched its TVS Wego in Pune.