When it comes to electric mobility, the Japanese Four have had a laid-back approach for years. They take their cues from Toyota, never going extreme climate-tech-wokish. None of them wants to burn money to sell electric scooters, even if that means losing some market share in the short term. This also means that in various markets, they have let about twenty startups find their feet. In the ideal high-competition scenario, they would have squashed these startups under the heavy boots of nimble high-quality product development and high marketing spend. Not today.
Instead, the Japanese continue to pursue other powertrain choices, such as hybrids and Hydrogen. It’s almost like we are in a multiverse, and the Japanese are just not on the same Earth timeline.
InsightEV – Global Electric Mobility
Marketshares
When we talk market share, the Japanese Four account for about 42% of the global market, with Honda alone holding a 30% share of the market, and Yamaha another 8%. Even with the Chinese and Indian influences growing, the Japanese continue to be the dominant force across most of the world. Some of the largest two-wheeler markets like India, ASEAN, and LatAm are heavily dominated by Japanese manufacturers. All these markets are now seeing a flux of electric scooters with very little participation from the Japanese Four. Eventually, this will lead to the erosion of some market share, as it has happened in Vietnam and India.
Take, for example, Honda’s continuously declining market share in the Indian scooter market. From 51.47% in FY 21, the market share had declined to 39.43% in FY 2025. In the first six months of FY 2026, this further declined to 35.93%. In the same period, the share of electric scooters has gone up from less than 1% to 18.62%.
In summary, Honda has taken all the brunt of the growing popularity of electric scooters in the Indian market.
However, that has not fazed the Japanese manufacturer. They took their own sweet time in launching the Activa e: in the Indian market. Then they decided that Indians like stodgy styling and ditched the crisp CUV e: styling to give the Activa e: a yawn-worthy make-up.
Then they priced it atrociously, clearly with an intent on maintaining the profit margins they enjoy on the ICE Activa. We questioned it all.
InsightEV – Global Electric Mobility
To add to their problems, the Activa e: is locked to the Honda MPP swapping network, and home charging is not possible. With the network only rolled out in three cities at a very basic level, the Activa e: sales have not taken off.
We would imagine that any normal company run by humans would have a quick, almost knee-jerk, reaction to this. Prices would have been slashed, the network would have expanded, and marketing would have been amped up. Instead, Honda has done practically nothing, relying on its Hondability to sell stuff.
That doesn’t work every time.
Data suggests that Honda dealers are sitting on massive unsold inventory, and production has been stopped. If things do not take off in the short term, this is turning into a big shitstorm for Honda’s electric efforts in its biggest market.
We put the present situation on Honda’s over-confidence and laziness. The brand has done some impressive work in India in the last three decades but has been increasingly coasting along on its past accolades. Meanwhile, the competition, even in ICE, has been churning out better products in-line with changing customer expectations. That’s the reason why in the above data, Honda ICE is losing more share of the market to Electric than the ‘Others’ do.
The Others in this case are TVS and Suzuki.
Yamaha is a Bigger Honda
If Honda is lazy, Yamaha takes it even further. Most enthusiasts would argue that Yamaha makes more entertaining motorcycles than Honda. There is more sportiness, more character, and more flair. Yamaha is an engineering powerhouse and makes ICE two-wheelers that are arguably even better than what Honda can manage.
On the electric front, the brand has very little to show. Till now, Yamaha has one e-scooter in its lineup in Europe, two in Taiwan, none in ASEAN, one in Brazil, and none in India. We discussed this lack of coverage earlier.
InsightEV – Global Electric Mobility
This is surprising, considering that Yamaha should have no barriers to hold it back. This is a very healthy company that last year turned JPY 181.52 billion (USD 1.16 billion) in operating profits. Sure, last year some key parameters like RoE showed some cracks but an electric scooter program is less than USD 25 million, if you run it efficiently.
What is Yamaha Missing, Resources or Intent?
What is even more astounding is that Yamaha has two ends of the electric spectrum tied up better than the other three Japanese manufacturers. Unlike Honda, Suzuki, and Kawasaki, Yamaha’s electric motors program has been cutting edge. Long before the others could get serious about electric motors, Yamaha had already set up a division to manufacture high-power-density electric motors. The company has expertise in making motors that operate at 800V, with outputs of 35-350 kW. This expertise was developed a couple of years back, but somehow Yamaha’s e-axle program has not been commercially successful. Apart from some small volume programs where the Yamaha e-Axles are being trialled, we are not aware of any large volume programs.
Then there is Yamaha’s electric bike e-drive unit business. The brand is one of the global leaders in the business, a position further bolstered by the acquisition of Brose’s e-drive unit in April this year.
In a nutshell, there are parts of the Yamaha group that do small e-drives very well, and then there are other parts that do pretty large, high-performance motors very well.
Ironically, it is the middle part, the one where we have electric scooters and motorcycles, where Yamaha has not much to show. Sure, the brand has been doing some lip service in various markets, but most of that comes from piggybacking off much smaller collaborators.
In Europe, Yamaha has the NEO’s scooter. It is a good-looking compact scooter that is surprisingly under-specced and (as a result) never discussed aloud. The same model is also sold in Brazil. Again, not talked about much.
In Taiwan, the Yamaha range at present is the EMF and the CUXiE. Both use Gogoro hardware, batteries, motors and the E&E system. The EMF uses the mid-drive motor from the Gogoro S2 Series while the CUXiE uses the hub motor from the EZZY/Jego. The only play from Yamaha is the styling and the bodywork, which, in the case of the EMF, is very sharp and sporty, a radical departure from what the Gogoro range looks like. This allows Yamaha to carve a niche in Taiwan’s battery swapping market, making it the most successful of all the Gogoro piggybackers in the market.
The other scooter, CUXiE, is not so sharp.
Considering that this is based on the Jego/EZZY, the epitome of how to do a cheap scooter right, the CUXiE’s styling goes beyond quirky and fall sinto the trap of confused. As a reference, here is the Jego.
Aerox E: So Little, So Far
Yamaha recently showcased two new electric scooters in India. When one of them makes it to production, it would be the brand’s first electric scooter in the market. Honda and Suzuki have already launched electric scooters though the Suzuki e-Access is not yet selling.
The Aerox E is quite interesting. The Aerox ICE sells in the Indian market and is a premium performance scooter. The Aerox E broadly carries the same shape and look. However, it may disappoint on paper specs with the motor only good for a 9.4 kW peak. This is even lesser than the ICE Aerox which peaks at 11.65 kW (15.5 PS).
However, Yamaha has made an interesting battery play. There are two packs of 1.5 kWh each, limiting the overall capacity to 3.0 kWh and the claimed range to 106 km. The low capacity also means that the cells are high discharge (expensive). This makes the Aerox-E rather short legged for a likely premium scooter. It also keeps the Aerox-E’s weight in check so this would not be a bloated elephant, very easy to do with high powered electric scooters.
For now the Aerox-E remains a concept since Yamaha is non-commital. It may be too expensive for the Indian market and Yamaha may decide to take it to Europe.
Yamaha EC 06: Piggybacking on the River Indie
The EC 06 is the other electric scooter unveiled by Yamaha. This is for the Indian market and has been developed in collaboration with River with the program code RY 01 (River Yamaha 01). World of River is the Bengaluru based scooter startup that has developed the Indie scooter and Yamaha is a significant strategic investor in the company.
In doing so, Yamaha has again piggy-backed on a smaller manufacturer, letting someone else do the hardwork. Here also, just like in the case of the Jego-CUXiE, Yamaha has managed to make its scooter apear significantly less attractive than the donor vehicle. While the River looks plush, smart, and generously sized with usable bits and attachments, the Yamaha EC 06 appears confused, fussy, and with the headlamp nose looking more like an afterthought appendage.
But we can see that Yamaha wants to position the EC 06 differently from the River Indie. The Indie is positioned as “a “the SUV of scooters” with thoughtful, utility features built in. One of the key attributes is the underseat utility space of 43-litres and a 12-litre front glovebox. The Yamaha EC-06 reduces the 43-litres to only 21-litres. We don’t know why but maybe the intention is to give the EC-06 a slimmer, more manageable profile.
However, Yamaha is not straying at all when it comes to the hardware. The motor, pack and the E&E are all from the Indie, with the specs matching to a T. The Yamaha would also be manufactured at River’s plant in Bengaluru.
And then there is this – when you peek under the Yamaha EC 06, you see the motor, and it carries the River logo on it.
Now the motor casing is the spiritual successor to the crankcase. That’s the place where the manufacturer puts their logo. It’s a pride of place. Irrespective of the fact that the EC 06 is a clone of the River Indie, the logo on the motor casing should have read Yamaha. It does so on the display yet they missed the motor casing. That’s the automotive equivalent of a cardinal sin.
Maybe the production scooters would read Yamaha, which makes the company’s laziness even more infuriating. Managing a 3D printed dummy cover with the Yamaha logo would have been a one day effort for Yamaha’s Indian team.
Which circles back to the original question – is Yamaha’s lack of effort a lack of intent?
