Yamaha YZF-R250 planned?

Yamaha's 150cc R15 dominates the Indian market

YAMAHA is rumoured to be planning a range of 250cc machines for the Indian market including a sports bike. And if it gets made, worldwide sales would be likely.

The class for 250cc sports machines is doing surprisingly well worldwide, with the Honda CBR250R and the Kawasaki Ninja 250R selling well in many markets. However, it's India that's driving the market, with an increasing number of affluent riders able to move up from the 150cc bikes that have long been the norm over there to larger-capacity models.

At the moment, Yamaha's R15 is the firm's Indian-market flagship. Although not sold in western markets (and not to be confused with the more exotic R125 we get over here) it's a best-seller for the firm in India and was a trail-blazer over there as a 'high performance' (everything is relative) machine. Now sharing the market it arguably created with several sporty-looking rivals, not to mention faster bikes like the CBR250R, there must be pressure on Yamaha to reclaim the initiative.

Should it be made, the R250 would almost certainly be built in Asia and largely targeted at the Indian and Asian markets – just like the CBR250R. But like the CBR250R, it would also be suitable as a entry-to-mid-level machine for countries like America and Australia and throughout Europe. Although Yamaha already makes the YBR250, any new model is more likely to use a water-cooled engine instead of that bike's old-school air-cooled single.