2012/13/12.     Yamaha will launch powerful 250cc engine sports bike in 2014. The company is at present focusing on the scooter segment in India. 
      Speaking to Financial Chronicle, Hiroyuki Suzuki , managing director and chief executive officer of India Yamaha Motor, said: “We will focus on the scooters category for next two years, but in 2014 we will launch powerful sporty 250cc bike in the Indian market. There is a good market for this premium segment which we would like to tap.” 
      What is derived from the interview is that because of its focus on the growing scootersą market, Yamaha will launch a scooter series for different target profiles, thus will not introduce any significant motorcycle for the next two years in India, but will keep updating its existing models. 
      The company, which began exporting made-in-India bike to Japan in August this year, is also considering exporting more models to Japan. Yamaha is exporting deluxe motorcycles R15, a 150cc sports bike manufactured in India.

      “The motorcycles manufactured in India meet the advanced specification of developed markets and they are produced at a lower cost. The price is almost double in Japanese market. We are sending R15 to Japan to test market, and if the response is good, we may explore more products for export to Japan and other advanced markets,” said Suzuki. That is Australia and New Zealand for the time being. 
     Yamaha also plans to launch a mass market 125cc motorcycle in India by 2015, manufactured in India of course. 

      Comment:Speaking of a powerful 250 c.c. there are some options to be considered like the powerful 250 c.c. (30.7PS) @ 10,000 rpm single cylinder engine of WR250X. Is there any relation to the new range of the three cylinder engines that Yamaha has announced? Fantasy is getting wild now. Of course low cost and decent performance will be the most decisive factors. 
      For the time being, Yamaha is obviously late to the 250-300 c.c. emerging market where the Japanese competition has already launched their bikes and some India-made bikes have also been presented or announced. However its not only at the 250 c.c. segment that Yamaha is late. It seems that it's taking things slowly in terms of renewing the line-up, probably due to the recent universal economic fluctuations. 
     Although quite a few radical and innovative bikes have been introduced by Yamaha in recent motorcycling history, creating or refreshing rumours is not always enough.
     Additionally the tendency of manufacturing bikes in countries with lower labour cost is given over the last years. However the range that this is implemented is impressing. However the striking news is that Japan is due to importing Japanese brand bikes from other countries. 
     Is the Japanese domination (at least in the form that  we have experienced it during the last 40 years) concerning motorbikes coming slowly to an end? A complicated and swiftly changing world, that is.

31/10/2012.      It is believed that Yamaha will launch a 250 c.c. bike, that will fill the gap between the YZF-R125 and the R6. This bike or a concept version could be presented at the Eicma motor show in Milan. 

     There is a tendency for smaller engine capacity bikes in the western countries and respectively for larger bikes in eastern countries. Thus Yamaha will start to compete with Honda CBR250R, the new Kawasaki Ninja 300 and the oncoming Ktm Duke 390 and Pulsar 375. These images are provided just as a hint for the real styling of the bike.

      Concerning the smallest motorcycle category, Yamaha will present a brand new 150 c.c. Vixion for 2013. 

     There will be a battle at this segment in 2013 as it seems, between the Yamaha and the new Honda CB150R Streetfire which also will be launched soon.