Motorbike maker India Yamaha Motor (IYM) may not speed ahead of rivals this festival season as its top boss denied launching a bike model in the 225-250 cc range.

Yamaha’s speed rivals – Bajaj Auto’s new Pulsor 220 and Hero Honda’s to-be-launched new version of Karizma lie in the 220-250 cc range.

“We are not thinking of launching a bike in that (225-250 cc) range this festival season,” Yukimine Tsuji, managing director and chief executive officer, India Yamaha Motor, told Financial Chronicle on the sidelines of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) annual convention.

However, Sanjay Tripathi, division head of product planning and brand management of the company, when asked about the launch of the fastest bike in India this festival season, had earlier told this paper, “We will launch a bike that would not only be the fastest in India, but it would be the fastest in the world.”

IYM is looking to almost double its sales this year, based on a low base last year. “We are targeting selling 220,000 units this year in the domestic market, while our export target is 70,000 units,” Tsuji said. The company had sold 120,000 units in the domestic market and exported 40,000 units in 2008.

The company is also looking to ramp up production of its recently introduced Fazer. “We will now produce 3,000 units of the Fazer per month, and are targeting to sell 20,000 units of the model this year,” Tsuji said. IYM was manufacturing 1,500 units a month of the Fazer at its plant in Uttar Pradesh. In the past two months, 3,000 units of the model have been sold, which is also equal to it the plant’s production capacity.

Tripathi had also earlier said the company will launch two new models by the middle of September, but did not divulge additional details.