2004 Yamaha V Star Custom on 2040-motos

Moto blog

The short but sweet life of the Yamaha R7

I was reunited with an old friend recently, my 1999 Virgin Yamaha R7 Superbike. By the end of 1998 I had won three straight BSB titles with the Yamaha YZF750, when main sponsor Cadbury’s pulled out leaving zero funds for a title defence. Wanting desperately to ride the new R7 and thinking a replacement backer would instantly get on board I turned down quite a few offers including a juicy contract from Crescent Suzuki (Paul Denning always enjoys reminding me).

Yamaha Reports 2011 Results

Yamaha Motor Corp/ reported a net profit of 27 billion yen (US$345 million) in 2011, compared to a profit of 18.3 billion yen (US$243 million) year before. Overall net sales were down 1.4% to 1.28 billion yen (US$16.3 billion), but operating income rose 4.1% to 53.4 billion yen (US$682 million). The increase in operating income came despite the negative impact of last March’s earthquake in Japan and flooding in Thailand.

Yamaha to Cut Motorcycle Production in 2009

With mounting inventories coupled with a drop in demand, Yamaha will be cutting its motorcycle production in Japan by 24 percent this year or to about 260,000 total units; one newspaper reported this would be a 40-year low for the manufacture. Yamaha plans to cut production for motorcycles and other products by 30 percent in the Americas, 20 percent in Europe but will maintain production levels in Asia where demand has not dropped off. The company is forecasting its group sales to fall 22 percent with an operating loss of about $300 million.