Interesting story about Yamaha's history

[saddlebum]

Note also the part about how Harley managed to block there progress in the US market which cost Yamaha big.

History of the Yamaha Motor

Yamaha Motor Company Limited is a Japanese manufacturer of motorcycles. Originally part of Yamaha Corporation. The company also manufactures other motorized equipment: all-terrain vehicles, boats, snowmobiles (see also Yamaha Snowmobiles), outboard motors, and boats.

In 1887, Thorakusu Yamaha founded the company Nippon Gakki Co., Ltd. (since 1987 - Yamaha Corporation) for the production of Western musical instruments - harmonium, and later the piano. Soon the company mastered the production of metal components for these tools, and from the 1920s it also began to produce propellers for aircraft. In 1954, the Japanese government returned to Nippon Gakki a metal factory confiscated at the end of World War II. It began the production of motorcycles. On July 1, 1955, this production was spun off into an independent company, called the Yamaha Motor Company Limited, and its president was Genichi Kawakami, who also continued to lead Nippon Gakki.

The first model, the Yamaha YA-1, copied from the DKW RT 125, was nicknamed “Aka-tombo,” which means “red dragonfly” (due to its simple shapes and chestnut-red color). It was the “Red Dragonfly” Yamaha owed its first sports victories: in the very first race at the foot of Mount Fuji on the YA-1, a victory was won.

In 1959, Yamaha Motor began production of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) motor boats. In 1960, a subsidiary of Yamaha International Corporation was established, which began selling Yamaha products in the United States. In 1968, the company began producing snowmobiles, in 1975 - golf cars, in 1978 - snow-removing equipment.

In 1964, a subsidiary of Siam Yamaha Co. was founded. in Thailand, motorcycle production was launched in Taiwan in 1966. In 1972, the headquarters was moved to Iwata. In 1976, the first Yamaha arc welding robot was introduced.

By the end of the 1970s, having mastered the US motorcycle market, the Yamaha Motor Company ranked second in the world for their production. In 1981, the company made an attempt to oust Honda from the first place, having begun mass production of new models. Competitors answered in the same way, and Harley Davidson managed to impose restrictive tariffs on imports of Japanese motorcycles in the USA. Yamaha Motor Company was not ready for this, because, unlike Honda, it did not have its own production facilities in the USA; as a result, Yamaha Motor was left with a million unsold motorcycles, a debt of $ 1 billion and a net loss of $ 126 million.

For the main corporation, Nippon Gakki, this had a limited effect, since at that time it controlled only 39% of Yamaha Motor's shares, and electronic musical instruments Yamaha enjoyed great success.

In 1982, Yamaha Motor began a partnership with the French scooter manufacturer Motobecane (MBK), and soon Yamaha Motor became the largest shareholder of this company.

Since 1985, Yamaha Motor began operations in India. Since 2001, India Yamaha Motor (English) Russian. became the full property of Yamaha Motor. There are two factories in India. In 2013, Yamaha Motor Research and Development India Pvt was founded in India. Ltd. and marketing company Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt. Ltd.

In 1990, the Yamaha Motor Company began a partnership with the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Minarelli, in 2002 the company became part of the Yamaha Motor.

In 2015, Yamaha and the Italian sports car brand Abarth entered into a partnership agreement for the 2 seasons of the MotoGP World Championship 2015 and 2016. In November 2016, two joint products were introduced as part of the EICMA show - the Yamaha XSR900 Abarth motorcycle and the Fiat 500 Abarth Tributo.

 

 

Edited July 30, 2021 by saddlebum

[circa1968]

I gotta say, they've had an eye for styling from day 1, IMHO.  The YA-1 is a very cool looking bike!

[BlueSky]

When Ford introduced the SHO Taurus in the 80's, it had a Yamaha designed V6 engine. Ford didn't have the engine tech at that time to build the hipo V6.  

[Pasta Burner]

Pretty cool.  Good friend of mine rides an R1 and has always been a Yamaha guy, I was dumbfounded when he explained the logo to me.  This was 20ish years ago