2013 looks like becoming the year of the scooter in the Indian two-wheeler market. We only just brought you news of veteran scooter maker Bajaj working towards fine tuning an all-new exciting scooter, and know that Vespa will shortly launch another 125cc scooter. Honda meanwhile just launched their revised Activa, Aviator and Dio scooters with a freshly engineered, 109cc, Honda Eco Technology (HET) enabled engine. All of which has the scooter segment basking in the limelight, with every other manufacturer striving overtime to keep pace with the booming market growth, to establish their footprint in the space before others.
Yamaha hasn’t really been missing out on much action here, having recently launched the Ray, a 113cc, automatic transmission scooter in late 2012. The Ray targets the fairer sex, but here’s further confirmation Yamaha are now on the verge of introducing a larger, all-new and macho automatic scooter, in a bid to make deeper inroads into our scooter market.
It’s still early days, with Yamaha staying mum on the subject, but do expect to see contemporary, angular and sharp styling on this new Yamaha scooter, that will grab the attention of male buyers looking for automatic scooters. In keeping with their DNA, we do expect the new Yamaha scooter to score high on performance as well as handling, proving to make a zippy and attractive scooter option to ride in India. The new Yamaha scooter is expected to come equipped with telescopic fork front suspension, with a features list at par with scooters currently on sale in India. Yamaha’s latest scooter will house a four-stroke, single-cylinder and air-cooled engine displacing in the region of 125cc, offering the conveniences of an electric starter and automatic transmission. Expect this engine to offer slightly more power than provided by the Ray.
There currently exists a blank in the scooter market that no manufacturer has addressed, with several seasoned motorcyclists looking for a powerful, able handling automatic scooter, and it’s exactly this segment Yamaha’s upcoming new scooter will target.
Yamaha plans to launch this exciting new scooter by around mid 2013. Stay tuned for more!
Dinshaw Magol
Ved Janve
