At a recent dealer event, Yamaha seems to have shown interest in launching premium high-performance motorcycles in India. It has been a long time since Yamaga big bikes went off the shelves, and seems like the Japanese brand thinks now is the right time to bring them back. It is being said that Yamaha could soon launch the R3 & R7 sports bikes along with naked high performance motorcycles such as the MT-03, MT-07 & MT-09. Yamaha is also evaluating the R1M in limited numbers for our market.
Made-in-India?
These motorcycles will be CBU imports. Not Made-in-India. What does that mean? These bikes will be expensive. We will get the latest spec motorcycles, meeting the Indian emission norms too, and finally existing Yamaha owners can look forward to an upgrade. These bikes will obviously be sold via a limited dealer network, and will arrive in limited numbers too.
Yamaha YZF-R3
This motorcycle when launched will rival the likes of KTM RC390 & Kawasaki Ninja 300 & 400. Powering the Yamaha R3 is a 321cc, liquid-cooled, twin-cylinder motor producing 42 HP of power and 29.5 Nm of torque matched to a 6-speed gearbox. The previous generation R3 was not a successful launch in India when it comes to sales numbers, but it was a very good motorcycle pushed out of reach of potential customers only because of it’s pricing.
Yamaha’s MT-03 is a naked sibling to the R3 sports bike, and it makes sense to launch this too, as the parts will be shared and unit economics work in its favour. For MT-15 owners, this could be an ideal upgrade in our market and this would rival the likes of KTM 390 Duke. Pricing however, will not be as competitive as the orange rival.
Yamaha had introduced the MT-09 in India before, but again, pricing killed it. Now, the brand is looking at launching 2 middle-weight naked motorcycles, the MT-07 & MT-09. The former will rival the likes of Kawasaki Z650 & the latter would rival the Z900. The MT-07 is powered by a 689cc, twin-cylinder motor producing 73.4 HP & 63 Nm. The MT-09 comes with a 890cc, 3-cylinder motor producing 117 HP & 93 Nm. The MT-07 & MT-09 are highly appreciated motorcycles overseas and if priced right, these could offer a complete big bike package to Indian motorcycle enthusiasts.
Based on the MT-07, the Yamaha R7 is a track tool, but a slightly practical one. This fully faired sportsbike is a twin-cylinder motorcycle, and when launched, would be a rival to the likes of Kawasaki Ninja 650, but the pricing strategy would be very different. Chances are, this could cost more than the 4-cylinder Honda CBR650R in India.
Yamaha’s flagship, the R1 super sports bike was also on display, in the R1M avatar. This bike comes with a 998cc, 4-cylinder, liquid-cooled motor producing 200 HP of power and the M version gets some carbon fibre body work as well to be positioned as an exotic machine. Yamaha did sell the R1 in India a long time ago, and it would be a good move to have their best two-wheeler on sale in the country. More of a brand building exercise than looking for outright sales numbers. This bike, would rival the likes of Kawasaki ZX-10R.
Launch dates are not confirmed, but your nearest dealer, if he was present at this event, could have some interesting details for you.
