Auto Expo 2008 News

Auto Expo 2008 News

Yamaha
Yamaha Motor India said it will invest Rs 750-800 crore over the next three years for product development, capacity expansion and marketing initiatives.

"We are planning to invest Rs 750-800 crore over the next three years to streamline operations in India and reestablish the Yamaha brand," Yamaha Global President Takashi Kajikawa told reporters here at the 9th Auto Expo.

The company also unveiled three new bikes based on its super-sport motorcycles and would launch them in phases during the current calendar year

Yamaha Motor Corp will launch four new bike models in India in 2008, the company said.

The company would launch two 125 cc variants in February, one 150 cc variant in the middle of the year and another 150 cc model around November, the company said in statement.

Yamaha sold 90,039 motorcycles in India in the nine months to December, out of a total of 4.4 million bikes sold in the world's second-largest bike market in the period

Honda unviels Aviator
Two wheeler maker Honda Motorcycles Scooter India unveiled its new automatic scooter Aviator priced at Rs 39,675 (ex-showroom Delhi).

The 102cc powered scooter will be available across the country from March onwards. The company is targeting to sell 1 lakh units of Aviator in the next fiscal.

"Aviator is targeted at males and we plan to sell about as many as 1 lakh units of the scooter in the next fiscal. Our overall target of sales is around 1 million units of which 7 lakh will be scooters and three lakh motorcycles during this period." HMSI Head Sales and Marketing N K Rattan told reporters at the 9th Auto Expo.

Honda also unvieled a concept bike.

Bajaj
Bajaj Auto has announced during the Auto Expo that they will launch three new motorcycles in 2008.

Bajaj Auto Ltd, India's second-biggest motorbike maker, will develop two motorbike platforms with venture partner KTM for launch in mid-2010, its managing director said on Thursday.



Bajaj, which has raised its stake in the Austrian firm to about 21 percent, will raise it further to 25 percent over the "next few months", Rajiv Bajaj said at the firm's stall at the Auto Expo in the Indian capital.

The four-stroke bike, in 125 cc and 250 cc models, may also be exported to Europe and the Far East. The two companies may also develop a range of scooters for Europe, Stefan Pierer, chief executive and chairman, KTM said.

Bajaj Auto Ltd, today entered into an agreement with Japan's Kawasaki for bringing the latter's high-end motorcycles into India. Among the bikes being considered are Ninja 250, sports roadster ER6n, another sports bike Ninja ZX6R, and Z1000 Vulcan Cruiser, company officials said at the Auto Expo here. Bajaj and Kawasaki already have a technology tie-up. The new bikes would be sold through Bajaj Auto's Probiking showrooms across the country.