Re: My rant with Yamaha

Rant Thread Approved!

Re: My rant with Yamaha

Hey mods I seemed to have posted in the wrong category, is it possible to shift this post to general biking discussion?

Re: My rant with Yamaha

Maybe Yamaha doesn't see many numbers. If brought in as CBU, prices will be high. Investments mandated for localization (CKD) may not justify the decision for now. If only 100 bikes are sold a year, Yamaha would need years to break even with it's pumped in money.

Re: My rant with Yamaha

I understand bringing down some bikes won't make financial sense, Honda also never had a mid range until 2 years back now Yamaha have the r3, but I doubt they have sold much as their marketing for the bike was non- existent . I'm just curious as to what is their reply to the competition? Rumours going around that KTM may bring down the 790 which is still In the prototype phase maybe in a few years. Also does anyone own a fz-09 on this forum, if soo I'm yet to see even one ownership experience or review or first ride of the bike in India. In my view the mid range market is growing and I see many many potential buyers now with host of options, Yamaha has to surely consider this. I'm not at all convinced.

Re: My rant with Yamaha

Hello sir, first of all, You have poured out my feelings in words. I take test rides of every vehicle that arrives in the market whenever I get a chance to. Around a year back, when I went to service my Unicorn, I saw the CBR650f for the first time ( this was in CBE, 650 ain't available in my hometown). When I asked for a test ride, the guy said a long procedure and enquired about as to what's the highest performance bike I had ridden till date. I mentioned ktm 390
After a week's prolonged enquiry, they finally gave me a test ride for about 4-5kms. I absolutely fell in love with it. Many bikes have come and gone, this has been my dream bike and my laptop wallpaper for almost a year. Since then, I wanted to set my mind on a future bike and I've test ridden some mid-range vehicles, like the Ninja 650, Benelli 600i and GT, tried the Ducati Monster 795 from a relative in Chennai, and being a Yamaha lover since childhood, it's an absolute disappointment that there's no vehicle in the 400-700cc segment. I sure wish the fz-07 or atleast the r6 makes its way to India. Sure, there's the mt-09 but, as you've specified, I have never seen it on the roads, and yamaha showroom in my locality dont even know an mt-09 exists.
The wish remains a wish..

Re: My rant with Yamaha

I agree with you. I mean for me, if they can bring MT-09, why not MT-07. In any case MT-07 has the probability of bringing in more sales.
Plus anybody even mildly interested in India Biking scene can see that 3-9 Lakhs is the bracket where there is a lot of action and is price range, which is attracting buyers.
11-12 lakhs is still on the higher side.

They should actually get the MT-07 and MT-07 tracer and it will be the perfect sports tourer in our country.

Yamaha has been really slow in India.

Rachit

Re: My rant with Yamaha

My view is exactly that the tracer or the fz07 naked should atleast be launched for the competition, but Yamaha aren't showing any interest, which is very disappointing, they give preference to the lower segment 100-150cc being r15 being their flagship, coming to the r3 comon ABS atleast as a option and I'm sure they can do a lot better than MRF tyres which shows them cutting cost and losing existing and potential customers.The reviews of the tracer seem very good and fz07 sell like hot cakes abroad, if priced between 6-7lakhs it will open up the mid range segment. If I'm not wrong Yamaha have the fz6r which is a reliable bike but I don't see it doing very well but fz07(naked or tracer) Is a exciting package , seems more usable in our country. Also rachit I'm yet to see even a review of the fz09 here in India apart from one motovlogger called msk vlogs , whats the meaning of this? Bike has been on the website for atleast a year and a few months, but again Yamaha 0 marketing. Now they are more interested in launching their fz250 which apart from LED lights, and best torque in class, you have much better options with KTM,bajaj ,TVs,etc .

Re: My rant with Yamaha

I'm glad you share my view Friend, seeing the competition and not seeing Yamaha bothering about it, really makes me mad. Realistically I don't see the r6 or the 600cc super sports coming here as it does not make financial sense which is totally fine, but a naked or a tourer makes much more sense as our market is really growing but Yamaha isn't moving with the times, they think their fz25 will be hit, I know I may sound like a harsh person but I think that bike will fail, because you have better options with a bit more money. You know the irony, Yamaha customer care, some of them don't even know the fz09 exists, when I said fz09 I think the person thought it was the normal fz I was talking about.. Talk about knowing basic company knowledge and products... I wanted to test ride the CBR 650f for a long time but when the bike launched nobody offered where I am from Chennai. Today I just thought I'll put in a request to Honda on unavailability of test ride in the afternoon, in the evening I get a call from svm Honda stating that test ride is available and even the person will come with the bike to my place if I want, I was very impressed by Honda for this, coming to Yamaha , you can't even reach their customer care, somehow your number gets blocked and you can't get any information or anything, very poor from Yamaha in all aspects here.

Re: My rant with Yamaha

Yup, I agree with you. Half hearted attempts!!
Before the R15 and Fz, it was a similar situation. Yamaha enjoys a very large loyal population in India because of RX and RD motorcycles of the past.
But Yamaha completely ignored the enthusiast population and kept churning out commuters and kept loosing to Honda/Hero Honda.

They finally launched R15 and FZ and just look at how market responded to it. They sold these bikes at a premium but still so many people bought them. The loyal fans of Yamaha in my opinion really rewarded Yamaha. But then, Yamaha went to sleep again. I think it is quite apparent that as a manufacturer none except for Kawasaki has focused on Asian markets well enough and all I can see is Kawasaki is getting good results.

Rachit

Re: My rant with Yamaha

Totally right. Kawasaki dominate this segment due to the sheer number of options, then theres triumph although a bit premium still with good options , then theres benelli , although not on par in terms of quality with its competition still has enough options , and I think Honda genuinely listened to their customers, I remember when I caught a review of the CBR 650f and saw it in pictures for the first time in 2014 was immediately in love , I enquired to Honda a few times and looks like they listened and brought it out in 2015, with proper marketing and all, come 2016 Yamaha launched the fz09 but more than 70% of the people wouldn't know because of the 0 marketing policy at the same time , a bike like fz25 gets a big launch which isn't even required in my opinion . Yet the fz09 makes almost the same power of the z800 but is priced at 11-12 lakhs which is a good 2-4 lakhs over priced in my opinion...I have even stated this to the customer care , anyway for the higher Yamaha authority to hear this out? Nope ... Severely poor overall. And really first fire blade that will be fantastic, I'm really keen on seeing that n the Africa twin here, good move by Honda here.

Re: My rant with Yamaha

Also like to add Suzuki to the list but they are selling hayabusas like hot cakes, still no mid segment bike like a sv650 or gsx s750 , or a vstrom 650...
The upper middle class ppl are the audience but both Yamaha n Suzuki who have excellent mid range bikes just don't see a market to bring em here, I want to start a petition and write to both of em.

Re: My rant with Yamaha


I agree to you here as well. As a selfish biker, I too want manufacturers to treat our market as nascent but full of potential and hence make investments so that it develops. But in most cases it might not be a good business decision for them. Things are changing, its just that its a bit slow for restless people like us looking to get our dream upgrade.

Rachit

Re: My rant with Yamaha

True that maybe its not financially viable but when u have service places that can service the bigger bikes, why not the mid segment? Look at KTM, they've just entered the market, it makes no sense for them to come into the 600 plus cc market due to their service center network, but a Yamaha n Suzuki have enough of that, but they refuse too bring anything here.

Re: My rant with Yamaha

As much as I agree with you on this subject, even with CKD a company has a significant investment to be made. Maybe less financially but logistically it is still quite a task and this is something I understood with my CBR650 experience.
Here are a few things that I learned:
1) My owner's manual seems to have the India specific changes made to it like service intervals etc.
2) Getting the bike homologated and we all how easy it is to deal with our Government agencies. All below 800CC bikes need to be homologated.
3) Designing new Front Number plate braces and Saree Guards and getting them manufactured.
4) Getting all the spare parts registered with Import Authorities so that they can be seamlessly imported.
5) Coordinating with all RTOs so that the bikes can be registered. A new model needs this teething things sorted.
6) Training people who will assemble these bikes.
7) Have a proper QC
8) Getting all the service professionals trained to service the bikes.

I agree, if completely new to India companies like HD, Ducati and Triumph can do it, why cant Yamaha and Suzuki who have been doing business here for donkey number of years can't. Its just their attitude towards India. I really liked when I got to know that John Ibrahim agreed to be a brand ambassador to Yamaha only of they launched their bigger bikes in India and that probably was 1 provocation that led to R1 being launched here.
As bikers, I guess we need to stop buying their lower end offerings till they bring bigger stuff and make investments in our country for biking.

CHEERS!!

Rachit