Yamaha Announces Exit from Snowmobile Market
Reporting by John Prusak, from SnowGoer.com
The rumors are finally true. Model year 2025 will be the last for Yamaha snowmobiles, as the brand will exit the market altogether. It will leave behind a 57-year history that started with the 1968 SL350 and will end with a model lineup dominated by turbocharged Sidewinder four-strokes. In between, Enticers and Exciters, Phazers and Vmaxes, multiple generations of exciting and innovative SRX models and much, much more fulfilled dreams of snowmobilers across the Snowbelt.
Yamaha will shift its focus, company officials said, to other business interests. The announcement, made June 28, 2023, came right from the top. In a press release, Yamaha Motor Corporation of Iwata, Japan, said it had “concluded it will be difficult to continue a sustainable business in the snowmobile market.
“Going forward, Yamaha will concentrate management resources on current business activities and new growth markets,” the release continued. The brand’s side-by-side, marine, motorcycle and ebike lines are the likely beneficiaries of snowmobilers’ loss.
During a hastily called teleconference hosted from a hotel in Ottawa, Ontario, leaders of Yamaha’s North American Snowmobile Division spoke in rather muted tones. They were clearly shaken personally by the decision.
“We’ve been trying everything we can from a North American snowmobile team perspective to make sure this business can stay within our portfolio,” said Jaret Smith, Yamaha’s snowmobile product manager. “We’ve been working very hard over the last few years here trying to ensure we have something viable and did everything we could to try to save this business.”
Most of the brand’s 2024 model lineup has already been built or is currently being built by Textron/Arctic Cat. Therefore, this will have no effect on snowmobiles already ordered by consumers and dealers for this coming winter, explained Bryan Hudgin, Yamaha Canada’s director of marketing & brand development.
Yamaha will announce, as scheduled early next year, a full 2025 snowmobile lineup. That will then be the end for Yamaha snowmobiles in North America. In Europe, the end will come sooner with the 2024 lineup. Company officials also set out to assure customers and dealers that parts, service and warranty functions will remain in place even after the whole goods are gone.
Yamaha Snowmobiles: Context
Some snowmobiling insiders have long questioned Yamaha’s relative level of commitment to the snowmobile market. When the brand began partnering with rival Arctic Cat in model year 2014 to have that company build most of its performance models, those rumors got louder.
The closure of Yamaha’s Wisconsin R&D facility announced in 2021 raised more eyebrows. Then, when the brand unveiled a 2024 model lineup that included no Yamaha-exclusive utility machines built in Japan, the writing appeared to be on the wall. With very few product development people on staff, no unique whole goods that didn’t have sister machine from Arctic Cat and market share in the low single digits, survival seemed unlikely. Yamaha officials said they could not comment on the length of time that Yamaha is contractually obligated to provide engines to Arctic Cat/Textron.
A Business Decision
Hudgin took snowmobile media through the brand’s expected frequently asked questions (FAQs) to describe the situation.
“The first and biggest question is why is Yamaha exiting the snowmobile market,” Hudgin said. “We regretfully made this decision to focus on higher-volume product groups and increase investment in identified growth markets.
The limited growth in the snowmobile market and Yamaha’s relatively small position in that market were certainly important factors in the decision. One big factor that some folks might miss, though, is the demise of snowmobile sales in Russia, Smith said. The Russian market topped 30,000 units as recently as 2014, and it was growing rapidly. Yamaha had a dominant position in the Russian market, particularly with its VK540 and VK Professional utility snowmobiles. Economic conditions and embargoes related to Russia’s moves into Ukraine has cratered the Russian snowmobile market, and taken sales of out-of-country snowmobiles to zero.
Hudgin stressed that there are two model years left (2024 and 2025). He said customers can continue to expect a high level of support from the brand going forward. “We are very committed to this,” Hudgin said. “We want to make sure our customers are taken care of if they bought a Yamaha in the past or if they continue to buy them in the future. There will be years of parts supply for them to rely upon.” Warrantees will also be continued to their full term, he said.
The brand also pledged to work with its roughly 500 worldwide snowmobile dealers to help them transition to life beyond sleds, Hudgin and Smith said. Furthermore, no layoffs are planned because of this decision. Yamaha says it will work with dealers to best position each dealer for continued success in the next 24 to 36 months while focusing on existing product groups and expansion of new opportunities.
The manufacturer will also offer sales, service, parts and warranty up to and including the 2025 model year line of snowmobiles. Current customers can expect the same level of customer support they have traditionally received.
