Yamaha introduces the executive segment Frazer

Our Corporate Bureau
10 July 2004

New Delhi: With the launch of the new 125cc four-stroke bike Frazer, from the stable of Yamaha India, there is now intense competition in the executive segment of the motorcycle market.

Yamaha is looking at initial sales of 6,000-8,000 units of the Fazer, to go up to 20,000-25,000 units over a period of time. The company is targeting to break-even by 2005, a scale up from its earlier announcement of a 2006 break-even. The company intends to hit 3 lakh-plus units this calendar and reach a 20 per cent share of the Indian market in the next few years.

Yamaha plans to invest Rs 100 crore on product development for the next three years.

Frazer, priced at Rs 43,990 (ex-showroom Delhi) will compete with other 125cc bikes in the market, namely, the recently launched Victor GLX from TVS, Bajaj Wind from Bajaj Auto, Kinetic GF125 from Kinetic Engineering, Freedom Prima from LML, the GF125 from Kinetic Engineering, the soon to be launched Discover (earlier code named K60) from Bajaj Auto and the market leaders of the segment, Passion and Splendor from Hero Honda.

All these models are positioned in the higher-end of the popular segment, also known as the executive segment, of the domestic motorcycle market. With prices ranging between Rs 38,000 to Rs 44,000, the executive segment accounted for over two-thirds of the more than four million motorcycles sold in India in the last fiscal, while entry and premium segments constituted the rest.

Hero Honda's Splendor and Passion dominate the segment and the two models together sell close to 1.5 lakh a month, over four times the nearest competitor.