Yamaha opens first motorcycle plant in Pakistan

Yamaha Motor Co has announced that construction of the Yamaha Motor Pakistan (YMPK) motorcycle manufacturing factory, which began in April 2014, is complete. The launch ceremony took place yesterday.

The new factory, with a total floor area of 17,000 square metres, is located in the Bin Qasim industrial park in Karachi City, and has commenced operation with approximately 200 employees. In 2015, the first year of production, the new factory is expected to produce 30,000 units, and will target production between 300,000 to 400,000 units by 2020.

In 1975, Yamaha Motor formed a joint venture with Pakistan-based company Dawood, which has been undertaking manufacturing and sales of Yamaha-branded motorcycles in the country. The joint venture came to a close in 2008, with Dawood continuing to manufacture and sell Yamaha-branded motorcycles until June 2012 as per the technical support agreement. Since then, Yamaha Motor has been seeking to re-establish its Pakistan base independently, and formed YMPK in 2013, which then led to the launch of the new factory.

The setting up of a new company and factory represents the company's re-entry into the Pakistani motorcycle market, and is part of the business scale expansion set out in Yamaha Motor's new medium-term management plan.

Pakistan’s current population in Pakistan is 180 million, and is expected to reach 200 million by 2020. The vigorous consumption that has accompanied this population increase has seen the country's motorcycle market expand to reach 1.65 million units in 2014. Furthermore, it is expected to exceed 3 million units by 2020.