Yamaha Motorcycles - Company History
Yamaha was established in 1887 to manufacture pianos and reed organs by Torakusu Yamaha with and was named Nippon Gakki Company Limited which translates as "Japan Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company). An interesting point is that the Yamaha company's logo still reflects their origins as a musical instrument manufacturer with the three over-lapping tuning forks at its centre.
After the Second World War the company changed focus to the production of Motorcycles with the 125 cc, single cylinder two-stroke YA-1 in 1958 - being named after its founder. As this motorcycle was hugely popular they set up Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd to further the development and production of motorcycles.
Today Yamaha Motors make a variety of motor products including scooters, golf carts, personal water craft, wheelchairs, snow mobiles, snowblowers, remote controlled helicopters, outboard motors, kart engines, water purifiers, business machines and, of course, motorcycles. Yamaha continue to produce a fantastic range of motorcycles to this day including the two stroke DT 125 LC and the RX 125M.
Yamaha also produce a wide range of 4-stroke engines such as the FJ 1100, the Yamaha Morphous, the SDR 200, the XJ 600 NM, and the YZF-R1 1000cc.
Yamaha also manufacture a range of scooters including the BW 50 Spy, the Jog 50Z 50cc and the Why 50cc.
As well as racing motorbikes, they manufacture a range of trail bikes, such as the TT250 RV 250cc, the XT 500, and the WR 250 F
Yamaha UK Address
Yamaha Motor (UK) Ltd
Sopwith Drive
Brooklands
Weybridge
Surrey
KT13 0UZ
Telephone: 01932 358000
Yamaha Financial Information
For the year to 31st March 2006 Yamaha Motor (UK) Ltd made a pre-tax loss of £3.3m, by 2007 they made a loss of £1.167m but made a profit of £319,000 in the following nine months. The UK company is owned outright by Yamaha Motor Middle Europe BV.
Useful Yamaha Motorcycle Resources
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