India Yamaha Motor unveils yet another Ray variant: Cygnus Ray-ZR

India Yamaha Motor today unveiled yet another variant of its existing Ray scooter line-up – the Cygnus Ray-ZR – at the Auto Expo. The scooter, which is powered by a single-cylinder, 113cc engine that is used in the current line of Ray siblings, the Alfa and the best-selling Fascino model, looks sporty and comes equipped with a continuously variable transmission (CVT). The scooter, which is targeted at young male riders,  is available with front disc brake and drum brake variants.

Speaking at the reveal of the Cygnus Ray-ZR, Masaki Asano, mnaging director, Yamaha Motor India Sales, said: “As we unveil our Cygnus Ray-ZR, we want people to notice our new unique styling which is designed for young Indian men. The Indian scooter market is going through a great phase constituting almost 30 percent of the two-wheeler market and Yamaha is committed towards offering its customers a perfect mix of style and technology. India is a very important market for Yamaha and we will continue to invest in innovation and expansion.”

Roy Kurian, VP (Sales & Marketing), Yamaha Motor India Sales, added, “India is one of the world’s largest two-wheeler markets and the scooter segment has managed to contribute strongly over the last few years. The unveiling of the new Cygnus Ray-ZR is a very significant step in our efforts to consolidate our position in the fast growing Indian scooter market.”

Yamaha is showcasing a varied product display at the Auto Expo. This includes the YZR-M1 MotoGP model, YZF-R1M, VMAX, Fascino, Cygnus Ray Z, Cygnus Ray-ZR, Cygnus Alpha, Saluto, SZ-RR version 2.0, YZF-R3, YZF-R15 version 2.0, YZF-R15S, FZ-FI, FZS-FI, Fazer-FI and the NMAX scooter.

Gunning for 800,000 unit sales in 2016
It is clear that Yamaha aims at boosting its sales further with this model in the booming scooter market. In 2015, the company saw its scooters outsell its bikes. Yamaha’s newfound success in the scooter segment helped it cross the 50,000-units mark for the first time in June 2015, and 70,000-sales-mark, its best ever, in October 2015. The ever increasing popularity of the 113cc Fascino scooter, which found instant success, has now made it the best-selling two-wheeler from Yamaha. However, the company is also concerned about the falling sales of its unisex scooter model – the Alpha, and also the Ray variants, which saw stable sales throughout the year until November-December. The company sold a total of 594,608 units in 2015, to post 4.92 percent growth year on year,  

despite a sluggish market. This can be attributed to the company’s ongoing customer-centric activities and product line-up including the Yamaha Saluto, Fascino and YZF-R3. Yamaha is targeting overall sales of 800,000 units in the domestic market this year.