Japanese auto major Yamaha has launched a scooter boutique in Chennai to enhance the scooter buying experience due to strong growth outlook for scooters in the country.

It plans to have 20 such boutiques by the end of the year. It will open them in metros and big urban centres.

They will be launched next in Vijayawada and Jamshedpur.

The company expects the boutique chain to bring in incremental sales of 20-25 per cent by the end of 2017.

“Scooters’ share in the two-wheeler segment continues to grow and we wanted to offer a unique buying experience in scooters with fashion quotient. Hence, we thought of the scooter boutique. This is the first such concept in the world,” said Roy Kurian, Senior Vice-President – Sales and Marketing, Yamaha Motor India, during the inauguration of a boutique under the dealership ‘Bikerz’ here.

The boutique will serve as a one-stop solution to both scooters and fashion accessories. Besides, it will let the customers connect their scooter passion to the worldwide trend of scootering, he added.

Kurian said the company was confident of maintaining higher-than-the-industry growth in scooters. During the first half of this calendar year, it sold 2.5 lakh scooters and 1.5 lakh motorcycles. In many locations, its scooters sales were more than bike volumes.

The company targets total domestic sales of 9 lakh units, including scooters and bikes in 2017 against 7.5 lakh units in 2016.

Prices of its scooters were reduced by ₹400-500 due to GST implementation. Yamaha’s scooters include Fascino, Alpha, Cygnus Ray Z and Cygnus Ray - ZR.

In the coming festival season, the company aims to sell one lakh vehicles monthly with 60 per cent of it coming from scooters.

The company plans to expand its dealership network with addition of 60-70 outlets by the year-end.

In preparation for the demand, the company plans to ramp up production at the Chennai plant to 1.8 million units by 2018.