First
Yamaha scooter to be launched in Diwali
Chennai:
In
a bid to target the southern India market, India Yamaha is opening a new
two-wheeler factory in Vallam Vadagal on the outskirts of the city, according
to the company’s top officials.
Addressing
a press conference here on Monday, chief executive officer and managing
director of Yamaha Horoyuki Suzuki, deputy managing director Riuji Kawashima
and national business head, sales, Roy Kurian said that a memorandum of
understanding was signed with the state government on Monday approving the
construction of the two-wheeler factory, which will initially manufacture
scooters.
Interestingly,
the company will be launching its first scooter in the festival season of
Diwali and eyes to have a sizeable presence in the segement.
The
construction of Rs 1,500 crore factory built on 440,000 square meteres of land
in an industrial park in Vallam Vadagal is scheduled to begin in September 2012
and the factory is expected to start operations on January 2014, Suzuki said.
Initially,
the new factory will employ 1,800 people and have two-wheeler production rate
of 400,000 units at the start of operations. “The production capacity will then
be increased in stages to a level of 1.8 million units by 2018 at which time
the factory is expected to employ 6,500 people,” said Kurian.
Kurian
said the plant in Chennai will manufacture scooters as it is trying to target
the personalized segment for girls. “Scooters are a key driver of the industry
registering a growth of 30 per cent,” he added.
“We
have done a study which found out that the girls expectations from scooters is
high and the existing scooters fail to cater to it,” Kurian said.
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