Yamaha Motor has begun evaluating additional manufacturing capacity in India as it expects its existing annual capacity of around 1.5 million two-wheelers to be fully utilised within the next two to three years.
The Japanese two-wheeler maker operates manufacturing facilities at Surajpur in Uttar Pradesh and Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. The two plants together can produce up to 1.5 million units annually.
“My feeling is that within two or three years, this capacity is going to be fulfilled. In that case, we have to start something for the expansion of the plant,” Hajime Aota, Chairman of Yamaha Motor India Group of Companies, said during a media round table.
Yamaha Weighs Expansion Within Existing Plants vs New Location
Yamaha is assessing whether to add capacity within its existing manufacturing footprint or invest at another location.
Aota said the company still has space to expand at its current facilities, reducing the immediate need to acquire land for a new plant. The decision will depend on the manufacturing processes Yamaha retains in-house, the work allocated to suppliers and the longer-term requirements of its domestic and export businesses.
“At this moment, we have capability and we have space,” he said, indicating that incremental capacity could be added within the existing plants.
Planning for a new manufacturing facility typically requires a lead time of three to four years, according to Aota. Yamaha must, therefore, anticipate demand several years in advance while deciding the scale and location of its next investment.
Yamaha India Sales and Export Volumes for 2026
The review comes as Yamaha expects its total volumes, including exports, to exceed 1.1 million units in 2026. Its domestic sales increased 41% to 4.1 lakh units in the first half of the year, compared with 2.9 lakh units a year earlier.
The company expects second-half volumes to be higher than in the first six months, supported by festive demand and new products. It has set an annual domestic sales target of 50,000 units for the newly launched YZF-R2.
India and Indonesia are Yamaha’s Two Growth Engines
India is one of Yamaha’s two major operating and manufacturing bases in Asia, alongside Indonesia. Aota said India offers the stronger long-term market-growth opportunity, but the company must continue improving productivity, quality and technical capabilities to expand its global role.
“If I am looking at the Yamaha organisation, we have two big engines. One is Indonesia and one is India,” he said. “Looking at the future growth of the market, India is going to be the highest-growth market and one of the largest.”
Aota said India presents a strong case for additional capacity because of its growth potential. However, Yamaha must narrow the gap with Indonesia in manufacturing quality and technical optimisation while retaining India’s cost competitiveness.
Yamaha's Manufacturing Investment and Workforce in India
The company is also examining how automation, labour costs, logistics infrastructure and proximity to export gateways should influence its future manufacturing footprint. Yamaha’s Kanchipuram facility was established partly to improve export competitiveness.
Aota said raising workforce productivity and developing employees capable of handling multiple roles would be important to extracting more output from the existing facilities. Yamaha employs around 10,000 people across its Indian operations.
The company has invested more than Rs 2,000 crore in research, development and manufacturing in India over the past eight to ten years. It has not disclosed the investment required for its next phase of capacity expansion.