Motorcycle Gains Offset Slowing Boats, Golf Carts
Cypress-based Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A., isn’t complaining about business in the wake of Sept. 11.
U.S. Sales for the year ending March 31 could come in flat to slightly higher than the prior year’s $2.5 billion, according to president Shohei Kato. Not bad, comparatively speaking.
“I do not know why, but motorcycles and ATVs still are doing fine in spite of the economic downturn,” Kato said.
Yamaha Motor U.S.A., part of Japan’s Yamaha Motor Co., imports and sells motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, Wave-Runner water vehicles, leisure and fishing boats, snowmobiles and golf carts. It counts more than 2,500 U.S. distributors.
The company’s most affected products are golf carts, according to Kato. People aren’t traveling to golf resorts as much since the terrorist attacks, he said. As a result, golf courses are putting off orders for new carts.
Sales of some luxury items,such as jet skies and boats selling for $20,000 to $100,000,also could taper off, Kato said.
But motorcycles and off-road vehicles could be up as much as 10% this year, Kato predicted.
“American people probably now consider motorcycle riding to be a healthy-sport activity,” he said.
Yamaha Motor Japan operates globally with local input on product development, according to Kato. Just about all of the golf carts and water vehicles sold here the U.S. are made here, he said. Yamaha Motor has two U.S. plants in Georgia and Missouri.
“Production close to the market yields better fruits,” Kato said.
The company’s larger motorcycles are made in Japan, though 50% of sales are in the U.S., Kato said.
In Cypress, Yamaha Motor workers handle administration, sales, marketing and product planning. Workers in Georgia design and make ATVs, golf carts, jet skis
Yamaha Motor is big on races. Last year, the company’s sponsored team won 15 of 16 Supercross matches and claimed two major championships (it lost this year’s title to rival Kawasaki Motor Corp.’s team). Having riders such as Supercross champion Jeremy McGrath under the Yamaha banner helps tout the company’s products, according to Nicky Mizuta, Yamaha’s assistant treasurer.
Yamaha Motor moved to Cypress after its Japanese parent spun off from Yamaha Corp. in 1977. Some 300 people work at Yamaha Motor’s 275,000-square-foot Orange County facility. Although separately run, Yamaha Corp. owns about 30% of Yamaha Motor Japan’s stock.
At Yamaha’s Cypress office, Japanese dolls and a samurai helmet are juxtaposed with motorcycles and fishing poles. The site has more than its share of Yamaha motorcycles in the parking lot,employees can buy bikes at cost.
Of the hundreds of original employees who moved with Yamaha Motor to Cypress, about 50 still are with the company, according to human resources officials. The average time of service is 12 years, Kato said. Some workers joined the company because they were fans of Yamaha’s outdoor products.
“Overall, employees are proud of the Yamaha brand,” Kato said.
Yamaha Motor Co. in Japan is the second-largest motorcycle maker behind Honda Motor Co. The company said it accounts for more than half of all motorcycles sold around the world.
Other rivals include Kawasaki, which has its U.S. headquarters in Irvine, Suzuki Motor Corp., which has U.S. operations in Brea, and Harley-Davidson Inc. n
Music Company Readies for Downbeat Market
The U.S. offers a unique piano market that doesn’t exist in Japan, says Mitsuru “Mick” Umemura.
Affluent Americans who don’t actually play the piano often will buy one as a showpiece, according to the president of Buena Park-based Yamaha Corporation of America.
“They acquire a piano for decorative purposes because larger American houses provide more space for such bulky pieces,” Umemura said.
During the booming economy of the past few years, Yamaha sold 4,000 grand pianos a year here at about $20,000 apiece, Umemura said.
But those days have faded. Umemura said he already has seen a slowdown in people buying grand pianos. Sales of high-tech Disklavier pianos,at around $30,000 each,also are off. In October, piano sales dropped by 30% from a year earlier, Umemura said.
While the U.S. arm of Japan’s Yamaha Corp. doesn’t offer sales figures, its parent company last month revised growth projections for the year ending March 31. The reason: continued sluggishness in Japan and the U.S. downturn.
Yamaha, a maker of musical instruments, computer products and professional and consumer audio gear, now sees annual companywide sales of about $4.5 billion, off 6.4% from earlier projections and about flat with the year-ago period.
Umemura said he is predicting a slight sales decrease this year for his operation. Demand for smaller items,portable keyboards and guitars,is less impacted than that for big-ticket pianos, he said.
Yamaha’s U.S. arm offers everything from brass instruments to drums. The company also sells audio gear, including amplifiers, mixers and speakers, as well as computer sound cards and recordable compact disc drives.
And don’t forget the nationwide chain of Yamaha Music Schools, including sites in Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Irvine, La Habra, Laguna Niguel and San Juan Capistrano.
The U.S. is Yamaha’s largest market outside Japan, and the Buena Park unit is the company’s largest subsidiary. Yamaha counts about 370 workers at its campus on Orangethorpe Avenue.
The Buena Park facility is all about music. At the entrance, a player piano welcomes visitors. A world wall map is dotted by small musical notes. A cutaway piano offers a glimpse inside the company’s signature product. Then there are posters of musicians Elton John and ‘N Sync are among Yamaha’s customers.
Yamaha imports products from Asia and produces some goods at factories in Michigan and Georgia. A 126,000-square-foot warehouse on the Buena Park campus handles parts, smaller goods and repairs.
Pianos, wind instruments and professional audio gear are key products, according to Umemura. Each segment accounts for roughly a third of sales, he said.
Competing products include pianos from Waltham, Mass.-based Steinway Musical Instruments Inc., electronic keyboards from Japan’s Roland Corp., guitars from Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Fender Musical Instruments Corp. and various products from Osaka-based Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
Within Yamaha’s 112,000-square-foot offices are two subsidiaries. Some 50 employees of Yamaha Electronics Corp. handle sales of audio and visual and computer products, while six employees of Yamaha Exporting Inc. send U.S.-made products and components to global markets, including Japan.
Half of the company’s pianos are made in Georgia, Umemura said.
“Some manufactures make only digital pianos, others focus on acoustic pianos, and those who also make both acoustic and digital do not offer a wide selection of quality products like us,” Umemura said.
Back in 1960, both Yamaha and Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A., set up shop in Montebello. At the time, both were divisions of Yamaha Corp. in Japan.
As the two operations expanded, the music company bought land and moved to Buena Park in 1971,becoming one of the first Japanese companies to move to Orange County. In 1977, Yamaha Motor spun off from Yamaha in Japan and set up shop in Cypress. n
