Video: Jim Aota on Yamaha's Premium Strategy in India, Taking On Royal Enfield

In this conversation with Autocar Professional at the SIAM Annual Convention, Jim Aota, Chairperson of Yamaha Motor India Group, opens up on the company's premium-first strategy in India, a shift the brand made back in 2017-18 and is only now seeing pay off.

Aota explains why Yamaha has deliberately stepped back from chasing overall market share to focus instead on owning the premium motorcycle segment, how it plans to take on Royal Enfield's dominance there, and the balancing act between cost reduction and pricing power amid rising input costs.

He also addresses Yamaha's product portfolio gaps including why the brand hasn't brought higher-displacement motorcycles to India yet, and the E20 ethanol-compatibility hurdles that complicate doing so along with plans to expand engine manufacturing capacity.

On electrification, Aota discusses Yamaha's hybrid scooter push (already a majority of shipments across models like Fascino and RayZR), its dedicated EV R&D efforts, and why the pace of India's electric transition is moving faster than the company anticipated.

Watch the full conversation here.