Being one of the oldest and famed motorcycle manufacturers, Yamaha is known for its diverse product manufacturing. Do you know that the Yamaha corporation was founded in 1887 for manufacturing musical instruments such as pianos and guitars? An interesting fact about Yamaha is that it started manufacturing motorcycles as a separate entity.
As for the company’s history, Yamaha Motors Company was introduced in 1955 with its headquarters located in Iwata, Japan. The Japanese motorcycle manufacturer is also popular for manufacturing different types of vehicles such as all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and water vehicles.
Let’s go through some of the lesser-known facts about Yamaha Motors Company and revisit its journey over the years.
Yamaha Facts and History
With a history of around 60 years, Yamaha Motors Company proved itself in the automotive industry with its powerful and reliable motorbikes. Alongside, Yamaha Motors is known for its water vehicles, speed boats, ATVs, and Golf cars. With its research and development, Yamaha has produced some of the pioneering motorbikes that were way ahead of their time.
Let’s go through some unique Yamaha Motor Company facts to know how the Japanese brand garnered itself a position of being one of the best-selling motorcycle brands across the world.
THE FIRST YAMAHA MOTORCYCLES
Yamaha YA-1 with a 125 cc single-piston engine was the first motorcycle by this Japanese motorcycle brand. Nicknamed ‘The Red Dragonfly’, the first motorcycle was only sold in Japan. Besides, YA-1 won its first two motorcycle races in its initial year.
After consecutive successful years, the Yamaha motorcycles were distributed in the USA by Cooper Motors for the first time in 1958.
CONCEPT OF MOTORCYCLES
The first president of Yamaha Motor Company, Kawakami researched the machinery used for manufacturing aeroplane propellers. It is quite a unique fact about Yamaha Motors that the president considered producing motorcycles, three-wheeled utility vehicles, and auto parts from the same machinery used for producing aeroplane propellers.
WORLD’S FIRST DUAL-PURPOSE MOTORBIKES
Another interesting fact about Yamaha Motors is that it manufactured the world’s first dual-purpose motorcycle in 1968. That said, Yamaha DT-1 served a dual purpose, on and off-road both.
In the same year, Yamaha Motors introduced its first snowmobile. Besides, it was the world’s first snowmobile with slide-valve carburetors.
RACING HISTORY
Yamaha had many highs and lows in its racing history. In 1956, the Yamaha Motors Company participated for the first time in the international racing competition called Catalina Grand Prix held in California. Although Yamaha achieved 6th position in the Catalina Grand Prix, this racing competition made the motorcycle brand popular across the world.
In 1963, the Yamaha Motor Company won its first-ever championship in Belgium GP. Since then, Yamaha has won 39 Championships including nine wins in a 500 cc two-stroke motorcycle class race, six MotoGP, and World Superbike Championship.
It is an interesting fact about Yamaha Motors that it won its first Daytona 200 race in 1972 and went ahead to rule the racing competition for a decade.
AUTOMOBILE ENGINES FOR OTHER COMPANIES
Yamaha Motors Company expanded over the years. 1977 was the year the company started its operations in the USA. Besides, Yamaha Motors Company started manufacturing engines for some popular car brands such as Toyota, Volvo, Ford, and Lexus.
It is a well-known fact that recently, Toyota and Yamaha made a collaboration to produce a high-performance hydrogen fuel cell car engine. That said, it will be a 5.0-litre V8 engine fueled from hydrogen only. Moreover, the engine boasts 450 hp and 540 N-m torque.
Toyota and Yamaha’s relationship is not a new one. Yamaha Motors collaborated with Toyota to produce the 2000GT which later became one of the iconic cars in the James Bond movie You only live twice.
Another fact about Yamaha Motors is that it produced engines for several Formula One teams.
THE MEANING OF YAMAHA’S LOGO
A fascinating fact about Yamaha Motors is that its logo is similar to Yamaha Corporation. The logo symbolises two tuning forks representing the company’s heritage of producing musical instruments.
YAMAHA IN MOVIES
A fun fact about Yamaha Motors is that its several models became part of some famous movies. For instance, Yamaha MT-09 featured in John Wick 3-Parabellum while Yamaha VMAX was a part of Ghost Rider- Spirit of Vengeance.
Besides, following are some of the series and movies that featured different types of motorcycles by Yamaha Motors:
- The Dirt Bike Kid features a Supercharged Yamaha YZ80.
- You can find Yamaha Motors Company’s patented Delta motorcycle frame type in Documentary ‘Hitting the Apex’ showing MotoGP M1 competitions.
- The Entire Crusty Demons of Dirt series shows some popular YZ dirt bikes by the Yamaha Motors Company.
It is a fact about Yamaha that the brand is not only well-known in racing competitions but has maintained its reputation in producing some quality motorcycles. Currently, you can find new or pre-owned Yamaha models from the popular motorcycle showrooms in the UAE.
Furthermore, if you wish to buy other popular motorcycle brands, explore these used motorcycles for sale in the UAE.
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