Spied again: 2012 Yamaha Ray Automatic Scooter

Yamaha plans to enter the high growth automatic scooter segment of the Indian two wheeler market later this year. The two wheeler major showcased a prototype of the upcoming Ray automatic scooter at the 2012 Indian Auto Expo, to rave reviews about the sharp looks of the brand new entrant. A launch before the festive season of Dusshera-Diwaliis being anticipated for the Yamaha Ray. For now though, the automatic scooters are being tested extensively across India as the following spyshots of the Yamaha Ray spotted at Gujarat bear witness to.

2012 Yamaha Ray Automatic Scooter Spyshot

The test mules of the Yamaha Ray bearing minimal camouflage could possibly indicate that the scooter might be all set to go into production very soon and also that the launch of the Ray could happen shortly. The Yamaha Ray is speculated to be powered by a 125cc four stroke engine. By the looks of it, the 2012 Ray looks like a light package given its petite dimensions. So, it could be one of the more peppier of the automatic scooters in town if it indeed gets a 125cc engine. Also, the scooter gets telescopic forks up front, making the suspension better prone to handle the bad roads and broken surfaces that abounds the Indian streetscape.

The 2012 Yamaha Ray automatic scooter, in line with its petite dimensions, will be targeted at the fairer sex, who prefer lighter scooters with smaller dimensions. It is an interesting strategy by Yamaha India, to primarily target a single demography rather than take the middle path of building a unisex automatic scooter, the latter an approach that has been followed to great success by the rest of the scooter pack. While TVS launched the Pep range of four stroke scooters aimed at the fairer sex, the smaller engine capacity and dimensions clearly highlighted that aspect of the range.

: 2012 Yamaha Ray Automatic Scooter Spyshot Blue

: 2012 Yamaha Ray Automatic Scooter Spyshot Front

: 2012 Yamaha Ray Automatic Scooter Spied

: 2012 Yamaha Ray Automatic Scooter Spyshot

However, Hero MotoCorp’s Pleasure 100 automatic scooter, pitted directly at the women folk of the country has failed to live up to its sales potential despite Hero’s attempt at even setting up dedicated dealerships for the Pleasure. So, Yamaha taking a similar approach is something that will be closely watched. apart from the Ray automatic scooter, Yamaha has plans of launching more products in this segment in the coming years. The Ray will be built at Yamaha’s Surajpur manufacturing facility at Uttar Pradesh.

Spyshots courtesy XBhp