Yamaha is planning to introduce the FZ6R in India in order to rival the Honda CBR650F and to tap the growing demand in the superbike market.
With the continuously growing demand of superbikes in India due to rising income levels and increasing urge to spend on fast bikes, 2-wheeler manufacturers are trying to launch new products in the country. Since there are multiple brands in India selling superbikes now, companies are trying to offer as many models as possible so as to keep the customer with them. While Yamaha does sell the litre-class bikes like the R1 in India, it doesn’t have any presence in the middle-weight superbike segment. But that might change in the near future as Yamaha could launch the FZ6R in India to compete with the recently launched Honda CBR650F.
Recently Yamaha launched the R3 in India which is a good bike for the segment it competes in but in some time, when owners would want to upgrade to a more powerful machine, the only option would be to move away from Yamaha. With the proposed launch of the FZ6R, the riders will have an option which they will be able to consider. Powering the bike is a 600cc liquid-cooled engine which produces peak power of 77.5 PS at 10,000 RPM and peak torque of 59.7 Nm at 9000 RPM. Built to be a sports tourer, it competes with the Honda CBR650F which was just recently introduced in India at a premium price.
Yamaha believes that in the next two to three years, premium bike sales might double. Tapping this growing demand makes a lot of business sense and is good for brand value as well. Since duties on CBU imports are very high, CKD assembly is the way to go which helps pricing the bikes competitively, leading to more sales. Since ABS will be compulsory in India within the next couple of years, the Japanese brand is committed to add the much required safety feature in its vehicles as soon as possible.
