Yamaha working on India-bound R25

Waging war in the quarter-litre sportsbike segment, India Yamaha Motor, which is currently working on the India-bound liquid-cooled, parallel-twin, fuel-injected 250cc R25, plans to bring this model in 2015. The model was first unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in November 2013 followed by its reveal at the recently concluded Delhi Auto Expo.

An industry source told Autocar Professional that “Yamaha is working to make some changes (minor) to the R25 model as displayed at the Auto Expo recently. The Japanese firm plans to float the product in the market on a priority basis and hence is looking at commercially launching it in 2015.”

While the Yamaha R25 will be a good example of the shrinking product development cycle (concept to production-ready stage), which is an upcoming trend now aggressively implemented by OEMs, an entry at the earliest into the Indian market will surely fetch brownie points to the manufacturer.

Besides being the latest to join the 250cc sportsbike bandwagon, which is seeing serious attempts from OEMs, the model will directly contest with the Honda CBR250R, the upcoming Hero HX250R, the Kawasaki Ninja 300 and the Hyosung GT250R.

Going forward, the Yamaha R25 will be the first model to position the company in India's growing midsized motorcycle segment.