World’s second largest motorcycle maker, Yamaha Motors, is making losses in its India operations. It has recently appointed a new CEO hoping to turnaround its loss making operations into profitable ones. This year India has witnessed three chief executives in the country.
Tsutomu Mabuchi, who was appointed as the CEO in January 2008, had replaced T Ishikawa who was a turnaround specialist. However, Ishikawa could not work wonders in the Indian market since past two years and was called back by the parent company. He soon returned to India to join Bajaj Auto in April 2008 as a full-time advisor to the company.
Now Mabuchi has been called back to Japan and will be replaced by Y Tsuji as the new CEO. The company spokesperson has denied commenting on appointment of a new CEO in the company stating that he has not received any official communication to this effect.
India has a 6 million motorcycle market of which Yamaha currently occupies only 3 percent share. It used to hold nearly 25 percent market share till mid-nineties. The company has introduced several new models this year, the 150 cc YZF R15 and FZ16 and two super bikes, the 1,670 cc MT 01 and 1,000 cc YZF R1. It hopes to capture larger market share in India once again as the country is one of the biggest two-wheeler markets in the world.
