2019 release

[actionjack]

Way more are fine than not. Believe it.

 

[03RX1-ER-LE]

Anybody see Port Yamaha on Facebook, taking spring orders for the new SRX.

 

[Ike]

I was hoping something to replace the Phazer. Seems like Yamaha is going to be nothing more than a engine suplier in the future.

 

[MikeWalters]

I was hoping something to replace the Phazer. Seems like Yamaha is going to be nothing more than a engine suplier in the future.

Might still be? There is only one Phazer model available for 2018 which has to mean its being phased out and/or replaced? They did the same thing when they phased out the Nytro before the SRViper was released....correct?

 

[yamajammer76]

Might still be? There is only one Phazer model available for 2018 which has to mean its being phased out and/or replaced? They did the same thing when they phased out the Nytro before the SRViper was released....correct?

They might have Cat build them a ProCross with a Phazer engine. That would be a pretty easy and cheap model to develop. I'm not sure. I did notice not too long ago on Facebook Yamaha was posting a lot of Phazer legacy stuff and talking about the market needing sleds like it. Was it a hint? Possibly. I haven't seen any leaks though.

 

[Farmer 73]

Interesting rumors about the 2019 Cats:

"The iACT is a $900 option from what I was told today.
They are not building a surplus of sleds for dealers to purchase this year. Textron is looking to tilt the balance back to higher demand and lower availability. From what I was told today, the best way to lock yourself in to a 2019, is to snocheck. They are looking to flush out the older inventory of sleds from the past few years."

Textron don't need Artic Cat! This is a good way for them to squeeze every last bit of life out of the company and the name before they, I hate to say it, close the doors. I think when we see the rest of the Yamaha line up it will tell us more of the future of Cat sleds. If Yamaha doesn't incorporate anymore of their engines into the procross chassie besides what they have now, what does that tell us! Both Cat and Yamaha seem to be fine with just refining what they have, which is good, but what does that tell us about the future? Neither one of these big companies are as aggressive on bringing new product to the table as Polaris and BRP do!

 

[Grimm]

They might have Cat build them a ProCross with a Phazer engine. That would be a pretty easy and cheap model to develop. I'm not sure. I did notice not too long ago on Facebook Yamaha was posting a lot of Phazer legacy stuff and talking about the market needing sleds like it. Was it a hint? Possibly. I haven't seen any leaks though.

I'm still holding onto the dream that if the Phazer will be replaced, it will be an all new chassis designed and built by Yamaha in North America.

Like a said... Dream.

 

[Sasquatch]

I just don't get it, doesn't matter what YAMAHA does some of you are not going to be happy like I said before your apex and out of date technology is long gone. Do you really think they or even CAT are going to dump a bunch of money into r and d on a completely new chassis and suspension with the way the winters have been. There isn't a lot of people out there that are going to spend that kind of money on something new no matter what it is and only be able to ride it 2 or 3 weeks a year. Why do you think there is so much concentration on mountain sleds (always snow in the mountains) some have not purchased new machines in years there is a reason and it has nothing to do with what kind of models YAMAHA has out there. If you wanted to purchase new machine an YAMAHA doesn't offer what your looking for, go else ware and get what you want and quite ragging on YAMAHA. They have gained a lot of new customers with the sharing of the ARTIC CAT chassis so losing a few wont be the end of the world I don't think. All this stuff is my personal opinion not trying to offend anyone but some of this stuff on here drives me batty.

Apex long gone? Probably news to those who bought this years model! How a 2018 Model becomes long gone I don't quite get!

Always with the go elsewhere don't rag on Yamaha, yet the reason that people are riding Catamahas is all the ragging on Yamaha about the Apex and Nytro! All the ragging on Yamaha that they need to build a new sled! Guess when your happy with the sled you ride you don't want anyone to crap on it and on your choice forgetting that the ragging you so dislike worked! Ya got a new sled at the cost of the one others liked!

I felt the same way when everyone was ragging on Yamaha about the Apex. Where were you then? Now that the only Yamaha choice is an Arctic Cat (as you say Yamaha has left the building their tech is old crap ) telling me to go else where is a little tongue in cheek at best! Now like those now riding Cats I think I have earned the right to rag on Yamaha by listening to the bitching and whining about Yamaha not building a new sled just for them from about 2006 and got worse in 2008! So I will continue to rag on Yamaha for giving their thunder to their competition and no longer being the initiative sled builder they once where! For giving up on themselves to the point that they fill their showrooms with the competitions sleds that the competition builds for them! For ceasing to be a sled builder and becoming an engine builder that can't build sleds!

Squeaky wheel gets the grease so why should one settle for a Cat when what they really want is a Yamaha! All the Cat riders have proven ragging works, so why stop?

Now if I ever tire of my old outdated technology, that works just fine on the groomed trails by the way just like it was designed for them! I will follow your advice and look to the Cat competition! Till then I will ride the last best sled Yamaha ever built and maybe ever will!

 

[yamajammer76]

Apex long gone? Probably news to those who bought this years model! How a 2018 Model becomes long gone I don't quite get!

Always with the go elsewhere don't rag on Yamaha, yet the reason that people are riding Catamahas is all the ragging on Yamaha about the Apex and Nytro! All the ragging on Yamaha that they need to build a new sled! Guess when your happy with the sled you ride you don't want anyone to crap on it and on your choice forgetting that the ragging you so dislike worked! Ya got a new sled at the cost of the one others liked!

I felt the same way when everyone was ragging on Yamaha about the Apex. Where were you then? Now that the only Yamaha choice is an Arctic Cat (as you say Yamaha has left the building their tech is old crap ) telling me to go else where is a little tongue in cheek at best! Now like those now riding Cats I think I have earned the right to rag on Yamaha by listening to the bitching and whining about Yamaha not building a new sled just for them from about 2006 and got worse in 2008! So I will continue to rag on Yamaha for giving their thunder to their competition and no longer being the initiative sled builder they once where! For giving up on themselves to the point that they fill their showrooms with the competitions sleds that the competition builds for them! For ceasing to be a sled builder and becoming an engine builder that can't build sleds!

Squeaky wheel gets the grease so why should one settle for a Cat when what they really want is a Yamaha! All the Cat riders have proven ragging works, so why stop?

Now if I ever tire of my old outdated technology, that works just fine on the groomed trails by the way just like it was designed for them! I will follow your advice and look to the Cat competition! Till then I will ride the last best sled Yamaha ever built and maybe ever will!

Yamaha is a business and they have to offer models that sell. Back before Chris Reed left (2016 or so) he stated that the Cat built Yamahas definitely had helped them increase sales. The fact is the old iron wasn’t selling well enough anymore. You can blame it on all the customers that chose the Viper and Sidewinder over the Nytro, Apex and Vector, but those are the style of sleds people want these days. Yamaha boxed themselves into a corner when they went 4 Stroke only. When the Nytro failed in the market they again boxed themselves into another corner with only offering sit down trail cruisers. Corporate cut development funding because of poor sales and the Cat agreement is the only thing that saved the division.

I don’t know maybe when the agreement finally ends someone in Corporate will toss the sled division a bone and they will once again build their own sleds, but if they do the new sleds will be much closer to the ProCross in design then the DBII. New customers didn’t want the DBII and DBII loyalists never traded for new models. DBII loyalists should be happy they built it as long as they did.

 

[journeyman]

Yamaha is a business and they have to offer models that sell. Back before Chris Reed left (2016 or so) he stated that the Cat built Yamahas definitely had helped them increase sales. The fact is the old iron wasn’t selling well enough anymore. You can blame it on all the customers that chose the Viper and Sidewinder over the Nytro, Apex and Vector, but those are the style of sleds people want these days. Yamaha boxed themselves into a corner when they went 4 Stroke only. When the Nytro failed in the market they again boxed themselves into another corner with only offering sit down trail cruisers. Corporate cut development funding because of poor sales and the Cat agreement is the only thing that saved the division.

I don’t know maybe when the agreement finally ends someone in Corporate will toss the sled division a bone and they will once again build their own sleds, but if they do the new sleds will be much closer to the ProCross in design then the DBII. New customers didn’t want the DBII and DBII loyalists never traded for new models. DBII loyalists should be happy they built it as long as they did.

They boxed themselves in with 4s only in another way too that reduced sales. The 4s engines just last so long. Between the lousy overall winters in the snowbelt and the LONGEVITY of the 4s engines people are keeping them way longer than normal. Not to mention how spendy these rigs are for the short usage time we get out of them. Sure Ski Doo offers a lot of choices like most number one mfg's usually do, but their 2s models don't last. Sure seems to help them sell more, disposable sleds!!

I did a little research the other day, looks like the E-Tec outboards have quite a track record of blowing up too!!

 

[TPAY243]

Sasquatch the apex is gone and I'm gonna say this much I've had more than one apex in my snow machine career and the only reason I kept riding them was because that was suppose to be their top of the line model, never once did I rag on Yamaha about it like so many on this site. All I know now is what I was missing out on while driving my apex after I got my viper. I've been buying new yamahas since 1994 and have a lot of used ones before that I've always stood behind them and never complained but knowing in the back of my mind that the apex does not compare to the other brands my riding buddies were on. Well enough was enough in 2014 I was due for a new one and I'm sorry to say that if Yamaha would not of came out with the viper I would be riding a different brand. Well I purchased my viper and after the first ride I could not believe the difference and new I would never go back to that apex no way no how. I'm not really sure what you mean by giving away there thunder you don't really think they were gonna put that hi tech 998 3cly in the old delta box and replace that 4 cly you and some others are so fond of. And what is wrong with Yamaha putting there motors in a cat chassis its a proven fact that they failed several times at trying to build a chassis that will compete with the other brands. I'm very happy with my viper its light years a head of the apex that is only good on groomed trails. That doesn't mean I'm going to drive it for the rest of my life and say its better than any thing new, machines are out dated in a couple of years now days so you either need to keep up with the tech or get left behind and think you still have the good stuff.

 

[Pstn head]

I have to agree with Sasquatch... Yamaha is and should be a proud company, and a proud company does what is needed to supply and design great products for there market share. Yes I do Love my Sidewinder and I definitely would love to have the opportunity to own a pure Yamaha again one day that fits my bill. Having said that I also agree from a numbers point of view a company needs to meet certain criteria in that area. From what I gather, or in my opionion, the Japanese manufacturers like Toyota, Honda etc. depend on quality rather than quantity, (not knocking the domestics) it's just my opinion, but with a short time frame like for the snowmobile market, rather than road vehicles sold all year, possibly they need to look at other channels to improve there sales.

 

[journeyman]

Sasquatch the apex is gone and I'm gonna say this much I've had more than one apex in my snow machine career and the only reason I kept riding them was because that was suppose to be their top of the line model, never once did I rag on Yamaha about it like so many on this site. All I know now is what I was missing out on while driving my apex after I got my viper. I've been buying new yamahas since 1994 and have a lot of used ones before that I've always stood behind them and never complained but knowing in the back of my mind that the apex does not compare to the other brands my riding buddies were on. Well enough was enough in 2014 I was due for a new one and I'm sorry to say that if Yamaha would not of came out with the viper I would be riding a different brand. Well I purchased my viper and after the first ride I could not believe the difference and new I would never go back to that apex no way no how. I'm not really sure what you mean by giving away there thunder you don't really think they were gonna put that hi tech 998 3cly in the old delta box and replace that 4 cly you and some others are so fond of. And what is wrong with Yamaha putting there motors in a cat chassis its a proven fact that they failed several times at trying to build a chassis that will compete with the other brands. I'm very happy with my viper its light years a head of the apex that is only good on groomed trails. That doesn't mean I'm going to drive it for the rest of my life and say its better than any thing new, machines are out dated in a couple of years now days so you either need to keep up with the tech or get left behind and think you still have the good stuff.

But now you are?

Ok let's move on. Glad you like your Viper but I'd say you are a rare one on here. I cannot deny the ProCross chassis rides better but most folks that came from an Apex needed equal or better power, myself included. The Viper for most didn't offer that, but the SW sure does. If the SW would have never happened I'd say what little is left of Yamaha's market share would have been almost if not totally gone.

So yeh the Cat partnership has it's pros and cons but I still think if Yamaha offered a couple more 4s motor packages in a Procross it sure wouldn't hurt. At least a Phazer/Wolverine type motor to compete with the non turbo ACE900 market. Plus that motor just as the ACE900 is could be used in utility type machines. Offering a few of those smaller units with a friendly price tag under $10k US might prove to be really good.

 

[TPAY243]

I have no problem moving on, everything is all good but trust me my viper has all the power of a apex and then some. I do disagree with you on more people happier on a apex vs viper or sidewinder maybe we should start a poll and then will know. I'm done beating this topic have to death everyone have a good summer peace out (time to get xyz out of storage)

 

[T-Bone]

When Yamaha and Arctic Cat signed their agreement they should have stopped using the Yamaha name on the shared tech sleds. Yamaha should have just come up with another brand name for those sleds. The "new" company would be owned by Yamaha but those sleds would have their own brand name, heritage, and history. This would preserve the Yamaha history and heritage before the agreement. The Yamaha history and heritage is what people desire when they say they want an "all Yamaha" sled. If they had done this then the Viper and Sidewinder would not have the Yamaha name anywhere on them except for the engines. And if pre-agreement Yamaha wanted to put their name on a sled with the 1049 or the 998 turbo then it should be in a chassis designed and made by Yamaha.

The agreement as it stands now is like GM selling their Corvette engine to Ford and in return GM gets to put that same Corvette engine in a Mustang chassis provided by Ford and then sell them with Chevy badging. That Chevy powered Mustang is about as much Chevy as the Vipers and Sidewinders are Yamaha. The Yamaha AC agreement sounded promising when the CEOs were saying what was coming in the next five years, but as one that is hoping for an all new Yamaha Sled, I have been extremely disappointed. I am not saying the shared tech sleds are bad, in fact they are good, but they are not a Yamaha.

What should they call this new Yamaha powered snowmobile company?