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2014

AKrider said:
Here is an interesting read, the 2012 Yamaha fact book.
http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/global/ir ... book-e.pdf

It breaks down their products on a pie chart and snowmachines are part of the power sports category. Powersports make up 7.9% of their production. This might sound good until you realize that power sports category is made up of sleds, ATV's, side by sides, snowblowers, generators and golf carts. Sleds are a silver of this 7.9%! Makes sense why updates and new models are few and far between.

They sold approximately 21,000 sleds last year worldwide. They sold more new sleds in Russia and Europe than in Canada and the USA combined. out of the 21,000 new sleds produced, approximately 8,988 sleds went to North America. According to GE Captial http://www.gecapital.com/en/our-customers/yamaha.html there are approximately 1000 Yamaha dealers in North America. That works out to less than 9 new sleds to each dealer! Of course I can't break out how many dealers sell sleds but say it is 500, that still only 18 new sleds per dealer. That's not very many sleds.

Looking at this info, I'd now have to guess that Yamaha would see more sales success by selling rebadged Arctic Cat's than developing a whole new line up. If the Cats were equipped with Yamaha motors, it makes a lot of sense from a financial perspective.
A late 1990s SNOWTECH mention that yamaha makes the least amount of sleds of the big four.But this puts them in a better position because there is better odds of selling more units(which means less carryover,which in turn hurts dealers).This over-producing has hurt the others in the past(got a feeling its coming back with sub-par winters the past few seasons).Whatever they are coming with its going to be in limited supply.By the way,the russia market is the future of sleds.Yamaha could still sell sleds even if north america sled demand vanished overnight.
 

I'm hearing change to the Vector and XTX lineup.
 
AKrider said:
Here is an interesting read, the 2012 Yamaha fact book.
http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/global/ir ... book-e.pdf

It breaks down their products on a pie chart and snowmachines are part of the power sports category. Powersports make up 7.9% of their production. This might sound good until you realize that power sports category is made up of sleds, ATV's, side by sides, snowblowers, generators and golf carts. Sleds are a silver of this 7.9%! Makes sense why updates and new models are few and far between.

They sold approximately 21,000 sleds last year worldwide. They sold more new sleds in Russia and Europe than in Canada and the USA combined. out of the 21,000 new sleds produced, approximately 8,988 sleds went to North America. According to GE Captial http://www.gecapital.com/en/our-customers/yamaha.html there are approximately 1000 Yamaha dealers in North America. That works out to less than 9 new sleds to each dealer! Of course I can't break out how many dealers sell sleds but say it is 500, that still only 18 new sleds per dealer. That's not very many sleds.

Looking at this info, I'd now have to guess that Yamaha would see more sales success by selling rebadged Arctic Cat's than developing a whole new line up. If the Cats were equipped with Yamaha motors, it makes a lot of sense from a financial perspective.

I doubt there is even 500 true full-line dealers in North America with snowmobiles. As far as dealers selling "only" 18 sleds... I bet those dealers would hate to lose those sales and everything that comes with those sales.

We all know that the sled business is a small business for Yamaha, but over and over again they have also said it is a very important business to them. Sure things change, but I honestly believe Yamaha will continue to compete in this category for many more years.

Some say that the only reason Yamaha offers a sled is so they can sell something to their ATV and motorcycle riders in the winter, but I don't own any of that. Maybe I am in the minority here, but the only Yamaha Motor product I own is my 2012 Nytro XTX.
 
Geez, 9 sleds per dealer seems quite low compared to back in the early 90's the local Polaris dealer sold 800 to 1000 sleds per year. They still hold the world record for most snowmobiles sold. You could build entire sleds from the parts they had in stock. The service they provided was simply amazing. They had mechanics working day and night on shifts when things got busy.

It's funny how a dealer can have a lot of influence not based on brand. I remember all the people who lived around the Polaris dealership drove Polaris. Then when you went north where I live, it was all Ski-doo and Polaris was never to be seen on the lakes. The Cat dealer was small so they were rare to see. The Yamaha dealer was growing at that time.

A dealer who provides good service and good prices can do well regardless of brand.
 
RX1MPete said:
Geez, 9 sleds per dealer seems quite low compared to back in the early 90's the local Polaris dealer sold 800 to 1000 sleds per year. They still hold the world record for most snowmobiles sold. You could build entire sleds from the parts they had in stock. The service they provided was simply amazing. They had mechanics working day and night on shifts when things got busy.

It's funny how a dealer can have a lot of influence not based on brand. I remember all the people who lived around the Polaris dealership drove Polaris. Then when you went north where I live, it was all Ski-doo and Polaris was never to be seen on the lakes. The Cat dealer was small so they were rare to see. The Yamaha dealer was growing at that time.

A dealer who provides good service and good prices can do well regardless of brand.

I'm part of that record, cause I bought an INDY 500 that year....it was like a snowmobile show everyday at that dealership...and now its closed
 
Exactly!! It was like a snowmobile show everyday! I remember they had full time fork lift operators running sleds in and out all day long.

Yep, they closed and they now have a huge Harley dealership.
 
Back when the RX-1 came out SNOWTECH did a story on the sleds development.The engineers had one idea to put the crankshaft,jackshaft,driveshaft on the same axis(what these folks can do would scare the s**t out of the competition).Anything is possible.Open minds come feb 20/2013
 
If that is true, I wonder what exhaust configuration they will use for the Cats.

My sled got so packed with ice this weekend that my track had a hard time to turn. I drove back to camp and had to break out the hammer and chisel again.
 
Saw this on Facebook...>Take it for what its worth:

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https://www.facebook.com/pages/TheRider ... 7184179052
 


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