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Yamaha Motor Company is reporting a ¥7.5 billion ($80.9 million) net profit for its Q1 2010 numbers, which is a marked improvement over the tuning fork brand’s ¥15.8 billion ($169 million) loss in Q1 of last year. Sales for Q1 this year were up 16% compared to last year, for a total of ¥309.9 billion ($3.3 billion) in sales. Volume was also up for the brand by 26%, with Yamaha selling 1.6 million units worldwide. Despite these strong numbers, both sales in Japan (-14%)and the United States (-57.5%) fell for Yamaha in Q1 of 2010.

Yamaha Motors is set to raise $812 million in capital in order to pursue development and production of fuel-efficient engines, which includes hybrid and electric models. The focus of this new range of Yamahas seems to be destined for emerging markets, but may include technologies that could trickle into more established markets like the United States. Yamaha plans on raising this money by making 63.25 million more corporate shares publicly available for investment.

At this point it’s abundantly clear how hard the recession has hit the motorcycle industry, so it doesn’t come with too much surprise that some management types are having to take the fall for the down-turn in profits. For Yamaha Motors President, Takashi Kajikawa, the only silver-lining to the situation is that this isn’t feudal Japan, and no one is offering him a sword to fall on. Unfortunately though, Kajikawa will still have to resign from his position as company President, as Yamaha Motors prepares for a $2 billion loss.

While in Laguna Seca for the US GP, Fiat Yamaha riders, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo, along with Monster Yamaha Tech3 riders, Colin Edwards and James Toseland, stopped by the Yamaha North America corporate offices for a little press stop and corporate tour.

Wanting to make the most out of the trip, Yamaha put together a video that reveals the secret to their riders’ success.

yamaha-logo

Yamaha Motors is announcing that it will be closing down 11 facilities, thus halting production, for two-weeks in order to cut on costs. The shutdown is expected to occur sometime in February or March, and will include lines for Yamaha’s motorcycles, recreational vehicles, atvs, watercraft, and spare parts.

In similar news, Honda has announced that it will be cutting production worldwide and across the board: cars, bikes, generators, you name it.

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