Yamaha drops year model

[lmist1]

I was reading that yamaha is going to drop on outboards the year model the outboard was built. How is that good for us the consumer. So does that mean the dealer can now match a leftover engine with a new boat and u not have any bargining power.. This is all confusing..

I guess it means exactly what you think it does. It might help with the resale of older engines.

[H20COP]

They'll still have the mfg date on the motor, so you will just have to go by that as the "model" year from now on. That is actually better than calling a motor built in '05 an '06 model, when there was actually no change to it versus an '05 model. So now you can consider a motor which was built in July of '05 a true '05 model instead of an '06 like the builders have been doing. Or as in package boats, the whole thing will be an '05 model, no matter when the motor was "manufactured".

The boating industry has been trying to delay new model year introductions for years. This is just the first step. I recall just a few years back, that Bayliner (and others) had new model year Trophy's ('04) on the lot in June of '03 (and most years prior to that). It drove the dealers crazy to have "non-current" boats on the lot prior to the 4th of July weekend. They finally got the mfg's to delay their dealer meetings until the fall. Some still hold them during the summer, but quite a few have changed them until later in the year.

That all will be changing soon.

(the RV industry has been doing this with their chassis for years. you might have an '03 chassis under an '05 model year motorhome. now Ford and Chevy no longer designate a model year for their chassis, just for that reason)

[ruggit]

Just picked up new boat with Yamaha 150's.

Model number, serial number, and date of manufacture are on the motors. On my motors, August 2005. Can't remember if the day is on there.

[FASTFJR]

They'll be doing the same thing for their cycles also.

[autobaun70]

I would personally like to see this done on all consumer products with one minor addition. Anytime a notable change is made to a particular model add a letter (or some other) designation to note it as different as what came before it. For instance on a truck, if a new model comes on one year, and 2 (or 6 months, whatever the case may be) years later they change the specs on the motor, or something like that, designate it as being different. Other than that, I think for the purpose of sales it should be based on the date of initial service.

I have spent significant amounts of time behind the counter of a parts store, and even more in an electrical reman plant, parts books dont' go by year model too much anymore, but rather VIN number for a large number of parts, getting rid of the model year would simplify this process greatly.

[jaccoserv]

A big correction to some of the above statements:

Read in Soundings Trade Only today that the engines will continue to show the date the model (not the particular engine) was introduced. Meaning that hypothetically, an F225 would be referred to as a July '03 F225 for a period, and if there was an update to the pistons in Feb. '06, the new models would say Feb. '06 on them.

[Glen E]

I think this causes some problems - so if Yamaha decides to make a major feature change and it was in the middle of the year, I would be plenty upset if they made the change and I had just bought a unit that did not have the new features. How do you know what'w coming and when? Do they change the model desigantion?

[far side]

I'm sitting here reading this and wondering where everyone's been on this one. Yamaha announced this in May of this year. I believe it's been discussed on this forum previously.

As far as most consumers are concered, it should not effect us very much at all.