2010 Yamaha – Getting Serious In The West

Yamaha just keeps chipping away at the 2-stroke snowmobile population with their all 4-stroke line-up. Back in 2003, only 40% of new sled buyers would even consider buying a 4-stroke. Now that number is up to 74%. Add to that the fact that 39% of Yamaha buyers are from competitive brands, and Yamaha keeps sneaking up their market share and number of sleds sold. Yamaha is now at their highest level of market share in fifteen years. Even of those who bought a different brand than Yamaha, 25% of them at least seriously considered a Yamaha.
Why and how is this happening? Yamaha knows the secret, which isn’t much of a secret any more. Their sleds offer reliability, and this translates to customer satisfaction. Right now, Yamaha meets the core needs of the market which are defined as performance, handling and comfort. Add to that quality, reliability and customer satisfaction and they continue to grow.
Now they’re out to increase their performance image. Part of this is with their continued emphasis on their racing program, trying to be more visible and successful in racing endeavors. This ranges across the board from traditional racing venues like snocross and cross country to their dominance on the drag strips to a new world speed record of 210 mph (G Force-1) and the X-games appearances, along with freestylers. . . .

This article was printed in SnowTech Magazine’s March 2009 issue. To read the full article, subscribe to SnowTech and we’ll mail you a copy of the March issue free to get you started. Just fill out the subscription form and enter the words “March 2009? in the comments field. We’ll mail you the March issue right away and you’ll receive 5 issues a year of the best magazine in the sport.