Yamaha to Foray Into the Four-Wheeler Segment With the Motiv City Car

Car manufacturers getting into the business of two-wheelers is not unheard of. We saw Audi buying Ducati recently, but can things work the other way around? What I mean to say is two wheeler manufacturers getting into the space of four-wheelers.

Well, not far away from home, we had Bajaj trying its hand at making a low-cost car but well, those plans didn't quite work out. Now, there are reports of Yamaha green-lighting production of Gordon Murray's Motiv city car and that it will be introduced as early as 2019. Yamaha had earlier announced its intentions to enter the four wheeler market at the 2014 Tokyo Motorshow by showing off the Motiv.e

For the car, Yamaha will build a manufacturing plant in Europe but the decision of where to build it has not been taken yet. The car by Yamaha will target the likes of the Smart city car and the company will look at selling it in Japan and other emerging markets in Asia.

The car has been designed and conceived by legendary designer Gordon Murray (the father of the McLaren F1) and is most likely to be called the Yamaha Motiv. Since we've already seen Motiv.e concept there is a possibility that the car too will be made available in both the petrol and electric versions. The one unveiled in Tokyo was powered by a 33hp electric motor, with a range of 161km. A full-charge takes three hours from a domestic socket and one hour using a quick charger.

The petrol engine on the other hand is a 1-litre version which is expected to make around 70-80hp, using an all-new three cylinder engine, made exclusively for the Motiv by Yamaha. It will be great to see Yamaha competing with the likes of Smart and we hope that sooner rather than later, they bring it to India.