YAMAHA MOTOR DESIGNATES NORTH AMERICA AS SNOWMOBILE GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS

[MrSled]

Yamaha Motor Announces New North American Snowmobile Division

June 30, 2016 (Toronto, ON) – Yamaha Motor Co., has announced that effective July 1, 2016, it will use North America as its global headquarters for snowmobile operations.

The new North American Snowmobile Division will take the lead in managing Yamaha’s worldwide snowmobile business, including product development, business planning, and marketing. The objective is to bring greater focus to North America by increasing speed of product development, improving coordination and efficiencies with industry partners, and better research and product planning decisions due to closer proximity to the market.

Headquartered in Toronto, ON, the division is comprised of Canadian and US-based employees to remain highly focused on both major markets.

In addition, Yamaha will increase investment in North American based engineering, research and design.

“For the last few years, Yamaha Motor US and Yamaha Motor Canada have been taking on additional responsibility for the snowmobile market,” commented Peter Smallman-Tew, North American Team Leader. “Yamaha Motor Co. has been encouraged with our progress and we are excited to accept this new challenge. We are confident that these changes will help us serve our North American dealers and customers better.”

As a result of these changes, the daily snowmobile operations performed at Yamaha Motor USA’s Lakeview branch office in Pleasant Prairie, WI, will be transitioned to Toronto, ON, Minocqua, WI and Kennesaw, GA.

The Yamaha North American Snowmobile Division is busily preparing for the arrival of the first Sidewinder Series of snowmobiles, the most powerful snowmobiles ever released! In addition, the upcoming 2017 season will also welcome Yamaha’s 50th anniversary for the 2018 model year. It promises to be an exciting season!

 

[Farmer 73]

This is how I read this. Yamaha snowmobiles are not going away! For the time being I think they will stay in Cat clothing until future notice. One of two things will happen, they will buy out Cat and have their engineers and factory design and build their snowmobiles with help from Minocqua and leave the Georgia plant build all the quads and side by sides as they are doing now. The other possibility I believe is that for the next 3 to 5 years they will have Cat continue to build their sleds while they get tooled up to build sleds in Georgia with everything else they build already! Research and development will be done in Minocqua and Ontario. With all the brain trust and management coming out of Tew's office in Ontario.

 

[MrSled]

As long as the heart of the machine is a Yamaha and clutches are Yamaha.. I am owning it. Along with it comes the best in the industry customer service and warranty. I will still take the Yamaha over the others....

 

[Farmer 73]

I'm with you on that one MrSled!!

 

[NOS-PRO]

As long as the heart of the machine is a Yamaha and clutches are Yamaha.. I am owning it. Along with it comes the best in the industry customer service and warranty. I will still take the Yamaha over the others....

I'm with you bud....

Like Farmer said, I think there is going to be some kind of buyout or it just took this long to figure out a new chassis for the upcoming powerplants. Guess time will tell.

But from all the updates and improvements to the Yamaha primary and now a factory roller secondary....I will always be Yamaha.

 

[Mighty]

I hope you guys are correct but I see this as drastic downsizing. I have a buddy that lost his job today due to this.

 

[Muffin]

Downsizing, yes. But you gotta get lean and get your house in order before you can change direction and grow your product. I see good things coming from this.

 

[sledjunk]

I hope your read is correct, but I am not convinced. I am worried that the sleds will be Cats with Yamaha power plants. Not sure that the fit and finish will be acceptable. The sharp edged, non removable, belt guard on the Viper is just one example of my complaints.

 

[OVR4D]

I recently read an article that said that world wide sled production, from all manufacturers combined, is 200,000 units annually. The article also contends that the market's most profitable categories are; 1) economy (base model) sleds, and 2) high performance sleds. Of these two categories, high performance sleds are the most alluring to manufacturers. One reason is that manufacturers realize greater profit margins from high performance sleds. Another, the article contends, is that buyers of high performance sleds tend to upgrade more frequently (than buyers of other categories), which helps drive sales even in low snow seasons or poorer economic conditions. Whereas buyers of base model sleds tend to hang on to what they've got longer, and tend to refrain from shopping when there's no snow on the ground or when times are tight. However, base model sleds account for a greater volume of sales than high performance units.

If you buy into this, then it's not too hard to venture a guess as to what sorts of products may come from any manufacturer, including Yamaha, in the future ... more high performance and base model units. with next year being an anniversary year, Yamaha just might offer an entirely Yamaha-built performance model. I can't imagine that only model they would offer during an anniversary year, as the highlight of that year, would be an economy model ... even if it was an all-Yamaha build. Could they bring both types of sleds to market next year? Sure. But I think there's a greater likelihood that it will be in the high performance category next year.

I would love to see them utilize the CF patents they have filed. An all new CF chassis would get my attention for sure!

 

[sledjunk]

CF Patents??? Please explain?

 

[MrSled]

They have a Carbon Fiber Chassis Patent.. thats the CF I believe he is talking about.

 

[Mooseman]

I read this as the Japan sled building facilities winding down and moving to Cat bodies exclusively using Yammy guts. This could be good from a cost/price standpoint where there would be less import duties levied if they are built here.

 

[sledjunk]

I read this as the Japan sled building facilities winding down and moving to Cat bodies exclusively using Yammy guts. This could be good from a cost/price standpoint where there would be less import duties levied if they are built here.

You might be right. Does that mean you will have to put your sticker on the front? :LOL:

 

[BOUNTYHUNTER]

As long as the heart of the machine is a Yamaha and clutches are Yamaha.. I am owning it. Along with it comes the best in the industry customer service and warranty. I will still take the Yamaha over the others....

x2

 

[Byam]

As long as the heart of the machine is a Yamaha and clutches are Yamaha.. I am owning it. Along with it comes the best in the industry customer service and warranty. I will still take the Yamaha over the others....

Best customer service and warranty.... Not for me! The clutches was not even covered for my viper they say 3 month,1 500km, and MANY MANY other thing is not covered compare to the other.... )

in Canada