Yamaha to ramp up dealership network

Yamaha Motor plans to expand its dealership network as it gears up to launch new products in the Indian market, the DNA newspaper reported on Monday.

The report said that Yamaha Motor intends to increase its dealership network to 2,000 by 2018 from the current level of 400, with a focus on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

In May this year, Yamaha Motor had signed a MoU with the Tamil Nadu government for the construction of a new two-wheeler factory in the state. Yamaha Motor has two factories in India, at Surajpur (UP) and Faridabad (Haryana).

Yamaha Motor's Tamil Nadu factory is scheduled to start operations in January 2014. The Tamil Nadu factory will have an annual two-wheeler production rate of 400,000 units at the start of operations. Production capacity will then be ramped up to 1.8 million units annually by 2018.

Indian two-wheeler market has continued to grow with demand exceeding 13 million units in 2011.