In a move that will give Yamaha Motor U.S.A. sole responsibility of Yamaha’s entire North American power sports operations, the board of directors of Yamaha Motor Co Ltd. has passed a motion to transfer all shares of its Canadian subsidiary to its American arm. Under the proposal Yamaha Motor Canada will become a subsidiary of Yamaha Motor U.S.A., with the transfer set to begin December 1st and completed by December 31. Yamaha says that its Canadian and U.S. subsidiaries perform equivalent roles and that their consolidation will create a more efficient management structure.
What this means for the Canadian buying public is yet unclear. It looks like Yamaha Motor Canada will still continue to operate as a separate entity with a real Canadian presence, unlike Ducati, Triumph and Piaggio who’ve also consolidated their Canadian and the U.S. operations into a single North American entity, but have no Canadian offices. Also of note is the fact that there are some differences in the models that Yamaha’s Canadian and U.S arms offer. The Star Raider SCL, for example, is available in the U.S., but not here in Canada, while we have access to the not-available-in-the-U.S., Fazer8. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
