| Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (The “Company”)
established a new subsidiary in Moscow to market the Company’s products
in Russia. In advance of full-scale operations, scheduled for January
2006, the Company held the first dealer meeting at a hotel in suburban
Moscow on November 28, attended by the President and Representative Director
Takashi Kajikawa.
The new company, known as OOO Yamaha Motor CIS (YMCIS)
is capitalized at 79.4 million rubles (approx. 300 million yen), and is
a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.
With a staff of 50, YMCIS will sell Yamaha products, including
motorcycles, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and outboard motors
through its 84 dealers in Russia. It forecasts annual sales of about 2.7
billion rubles (approx. 10 billion yen) in its first year (2006), and
about 4.1 billion rubles (approx. 15 billion yen) in the second year of
operation (2007).
The motorcycle market in Russia is expanding as the number
of motorcycle enthusiasts in Moscow and elsewhere increases, amid the
nation’s economic stabilization. Unit sales of Yamaha motorcycles
in 2004 amounted to 2,000, a figure expected to increase to 2,500 in 2005.
YMCIS aims to sell 3,000 units in 2006, its first year of operation.
There is also an increasing number of people who enjoy
snowmobile touring, or like to go hunting with ATVs in spring and fall,
or catching fish from outboard fishing boats on the nation’s many
lakes and rivers. Thus, demand for these products is growing in Russia.
The Company made distributor contracts with two corporations
in Moscow in 1996, through which it has been marketing a variety of products,
from motorcycles and snowmobiles to ATVs and outboard motors. In 2001,
a Russian Operations section was established within the Company’s
Overseas Market Development Operations. The number of distributors increased
to six in 2002, and the Company opened its representative office in Moscow
the following year. Since the office was founded, it has served as the
main base for meeting market needs with business plans and proposals tailored
to Russia, as well as collecting information on Russian markets and products,
promoting communication with local distributors, and raising Yamaha brand
recognition.
One of the goals of NEXT50-Phase II (the Company’s
three-year medium-term management plan, launched in January 2005) is restructuring
the business foundation in BRICs. By establishing a sales subsidiary in
Russia, the only BRIC nation without a local subsidiary, the Company is
honing its competitive advantage in the promising Russian market, with
an eye toward further expansion in the future.
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