Mumbai has finally received its first Yamaha Blue Square showroom, after the Japanese manufacturer slightly relaxed its size requirement for its premium dealerships. While not quite in the heart of the city, Swastik Auto, the new Blue Square dealer, is located in Ulhasnagar, which does fall under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Blue Square is Yamaha speak for a top-line dealership where you can test ride and buy its premium models like the Aerox maxi-sports scooter, as well as check out the entire catalogue of accessories, riding gear and apparel offered by the manufacturer. Owing to the breadth of items on display, these showrooms need to be quite large, which has posed a challenge in cities like Mumbai where real estate is at a premium.
Speaking to Eishin Chihana, chairman of Yamaha Motor India, in May, we learned that the company was working to try and solve this issue, and was trying to have "a little flexibility for the size of the showroom". That effort seems to have now borne results. Additionally, Chihana also mentioned that the company was in talks with a number of other partners to set up more dealerships in the region, so things could get better still for Mumbai customers.
The effects of Yamaha's flexibility will extend beyond Mumbai as well, and should also help potential dealer partners in other cities like Delhi where real estate is rather dear too. All in all, we can hope to see more Blue Square showrooms popping up across the country, especially in metro cities, as a result of Yamaha's new approach.
The draw of these showrooms could get even stronger soon, because there is a chance that Yamaha could bring in models like the MT-07 and YZF-R7, perhaps even as soon as the end of this year. More details available here. At the same time, we also recently learned that the company is working to make the popular Aerox available in all of its showrooms (it is currently limited to only Blue Square dealerships), and you can read more about that here.