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Everybody is entitled to their opinion and I have mine. I don't see Yamaha as a great engine builder at all. The Ford Taurus SHO that was such a wreck is not my idea of a great engine builder. Take a look at their outboard engines. Some are now pushing out 400HP. Yamaha is dead last in speed and fuel economy. Yeah, they are dependable but then so are the ones running circles around them using far less fuel. That's not my idea of a "great" engine builder. And FWIW, Yamaha also entered the boat industry a few years back. It was a 100% FAIL. Best of luck to those that were screwed with a 1 or 2 year old boat when Yamaha abandoned them. Buy one of their cars......you can't be serious. You'd have to be some kind of brain damaged to buy into that program considering Yamaha's history.
The original SHO engine was a technological marvel at the time. There were no systemic issues with it. It was a spectacular engine wrapped in a thoroughly mediocre car. At the time, Car & Driver magazine dared to mention it in the same breath as the BMW M5. I'm not sure what you're problem is, but your bias is showing if you think the original SHO wasn't a ground breaking car.
More recently, the 2015 Yamaha R1 set a new benchmark for electronic rider aides and forced every other manufacturer - including BMW - to play catch up.
I could have seen Yamaha doing some kind of low-volume boutique three-wheeler or stripped-down four-wheeler. Think Ariel Atom, KTM X-Bow, Exocet, that kind of thing. But with the upcoming ban on sales of internal combustion engines (haha), it's not going to happen.
The original SHO engine was a technological marvel at the time. There were no systemic issues with it. It was a spectacular engine wrapped in a thoroughly mediocre car. At the time, Car & Driver magazine dared to mention it in the same breath as the BMW M5. I'm not sure what you're problem is, but your bias is showing if you think the original SHO wasn't a ground breaking car.
More recently, the 2015 Yamaha R1 set a new benchmark for electronic rider aides and forced every other manufacturer - including BMW - to play catch up.
I personally would love to see Yamaha build cars.
What he's talking about raises a good point in boats.
My sea doo jet boat smoked the Yamaha on fuel economy, cornering, and speed.
The Yamaha did 2 things better than the sea doo.
Burn more fuel. And dock like a breeze. And cost more.
Sea doo would turn on a dime, out accelerate, out corner, and out speed the Yamaha
But boats aren't cars. Totally different ball game. And that's going back... 10-12 years ago when I had a boat for Lake George and the Hudson river. (Dream boat is the navy seal Mark5, web slough, or 18-20 foot 2 seater with a supercharged big block tied to a Berkeley jet)
Their PWCS are meh. Mostly 3 seater deals but sea-doo had them licked there too.
Far as their engine building is concerned... I never scattered a Yamaha sport quad.
Blaster. Banshee. Raptor. I haven't seen as many yamaha motorcycles in the shop as harleys...
And I own a Harley...
To put it in perspective, the V6 SHO engine was putting out about the same horsepower and torque as Ford's 4.6 liter V8 at the time. That's impressive out of 3 liters and no turbocharging.
I say the more players the better. More competition forces everyone to up their game,which means the consumer usually wins.
From a strictly financial POV, I would think they would initially focus solely on engine manufacturing due to the high costs involved in frame plant construction.
Yes, why not? The Lexus / Yamaha engine in the LFA is a gem.
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