Yamaha will be launching the Ray Scooter in the Indian market on the 14th of September, 2012. The company has already started bookings of the Yamaha Ray, which can be done for Rs. 5000/- at Yamaha dealers across the country. Deliveries will start in the second week of October. This is Yamaha’s first foray into the lucrative scooter market in India. Internationally Yamaha has a good line-up of scooters on sale. If the Yamaha Ray does good numbers, the Japanese automaker could bring in more scooters to India, there by challenging Honda for market share eventually.
When Yamaha unveiled the Ray Scooter at the 2012 Auto Expo, the company did not reveal any specifications about the product. There were abundant guesses about the cubic capacity of the Ray. Since the Ray is a Yamaha product, most people thought it would be powered by a 125cc engine. However as per our sources, Yamaha has gone with a 113cc, single-cylinder, 4-stroke, air-cooled SOHC engine. This engine will produce around 8 BHP of peak power at 8000 RPM and around 8.62 Nm of peak torque at 7000 RPM (torque figures are not confirmed). The company claims a mileage of 45 km/l.
The Yamaha Ray scooter will feature telescopic front suspension and a good amount of under seat storage. It weighs around 105 kgs and is being positioned towards female riders. The ex-showroom price of the scooter is expected to be around Rs. 50,000/-. Yamaha will be producing the Ray at its Surajpur facility. The company plans to export the SZ and FZ-series motorcycles to South America and Africa in the future. The motorcycle major is also working hard to increase localization on its products, which would ensure more aggressive pricing of future bikes.
