The Yamaha R15 Story

Yamaha R15: Overhyped or true successor to the R-series DNA?

Yamaha India’s latest offering has taken the market by a storm. But is it really worth the hype? Or is it just another product made prominent by marketing gimmicks? Let’s find out!

Part 1: Prologue

Yamaha by late 80’s had become a rage in the country. For the youth smitten by adolescence, the RX100’s adrenaline rush was something worth dying for. The more matured bikers on the other hand had found a soul mate in the RD350 and most of them still enjoy their long-lasting relationship with the parallel-twin two stroke. But the advent of the cleaner four stroke machines slowly started capturing the market share and Yamaha India’s success graph started heading southward. It meant that the company had to shift to the emission-norms satisfying four stroke machines. But their reluctance to do so for a long time and compelled realization later made the company lose out on a lot of time. By the time their four-stokes hit the market, it was already too late and none of the products were received the way Yam would have wanted them to be.

The RX’s mind boggling performance was not to be seen in any of its 4S successors and this lead to the slow destruction of the Yamaha brand. The company made repeated attempts years at a stretch to revive its brand image and in turn its market share. But all these attempts were futile – as the likes of the CBZ and Pulsars were the new performance buzz for the youth. As for the commuters, Yamaha was never their cup of tea, thanks to Yam’s performance bikes of the yesteryear. The mileage conscious market preferred the long running Hero Hondas. All this summed to a truck load of losses for the company, to a point were Yamaha’s existence in India itself became a matter a speculation.

However, a change in the Yamaha management meant a fresh set of thoughts and a new outlook towards the Indian market. The new honchos decided to put an end to the mileage conscious commuter bikes and concentrate more on what Yamaha is known for – outright performance. Within an year, all the entry levels models were phased out and the only commuter from Yamaha was the Alba. The Gladiator, which was an able 125cc offering all along, got a refresh with sportier styling and better performing engine components. Yamaha also introduced the much awaited YZF-R1 – which went down history books as the first imported litre-bike of the new generation. Though all these launches helped strengthen Yamaha’s brand image, there was something still lacking. While the R1 was the epitome of performance it came at a hefty price tag, and the Gladiator on the other hand was too under-powered as compared to the likes of the RTR, the Pulsars and the Karizma. Yam still needed one machine that could give the youth the same insanity that the RX100 was known for. The sheer feeling of owning a beast. A beast that the masses could afford. Yamaha knew what its followers were looking for. Finally it was born. At the 2008 Auto Expo, Yamaha drew maximum crowd – for the Yamaha’s baby R1 was unveiled! The R15 was here…

(to be continued...check back tomorrow)