It was a little over a year ago when Hiroyuki Yanagi, President and CEO of Yamaha Motor, told this publication that India needed to step up its R&D efforts. At that point in time, there were 40 engineers on board which clearly was not enough. Earlier this week, Yamaha announced the establishment of its second R&D Centre in India located in its new plant near Chennai. It was set up at an investment of ₹66 crore which forms part of the ₹1,500 crore outlay Yamaha has committed to ‘Make in India’ by 2018.

According to a press release, the company’s long-term plan is to develop products which fit the Indian and global customer requirements, but at the same time, carry the brand DNA of performance, innovation, design and style. For this purpose, India R&D would ‘develop’, ‘purchase’ and do ‘cost innovation’.

Yamaha Motor Research & Development India is the fifth overseas R&D headquarters for Yamaha Motor Group following Italy, Taiwan, China and Thailand. With the aim of high local development, the company wants to accelerate its engineering and manufacturing at local market quality standards to support product competitiveness.

During his interview, Yanagi said Yamaha’s largest offshore R&D was in Taipei, Taiwan, with 250 engineers. “Indian R&D should be bigger than them,” he had said. The Taiwan team develops scooters for Yamaha across its global operations.

Taking initiative

Yanagi was also of the view that India needed to accelerate the development of functions especially when was already the second largest production hub after Indonesia. The India team had till then been focusing on competitive costs and quality while the next step would have to do with the complete product. It is here that the recently launched Saluto RX motorcycle was an important part of the journey to get the optimal mix of costs and quality.

“Many Indian engineers are experienced in motorcycle development and I expect them to play an important role and take the initiative,” Yanagi had said. He hoped India would continue to grow and become a strong business base for the company’s R&D, manufacturing and sales functions. “Lots of Indian products could be exported to other countries and from now on even to advanced markets also,” he said.

Interestingly, Yanagi had also referred to younger India developing global models and, hence, more R&D skills. The local management, he felt, should take leadership positions eventually and this could even include holding key responsible positions in Yamaha’s overseas operations. “Indians are already global and doing well in the US and Europe and this could extend to Yamaha too,” Yanagi said.

According to experts, India could emerge the company’s largest two-wheeler market by 2020, ahead of Indonesia. It is also expected to play an important role in servicing new growth regions where Yamaha is keen on building a presence.

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