Yamaha to make cars

Honda took the bold step of expanding from two-wheels to four-wheels 50 years ago when it became a car maker from a humble motorcycle manufacturer with the T360 in 1963. Now it seems its compatriot Yamaha wants to ape the success it achieved in the four-wheeler arena. The Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer recently unveiled a concept car at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, which has all the possibilities to hit showrooms by as early as 2016. But unlike the Honda T360, which was a pick-up truck, Yamaha is planning to enter the world of four-wheelers with a two-seater city car christened Motiv. 

The man behind Yamaha’s first production car is Gordan Murray, a gifted designer who was instrumental in the development of various championship winning Formula 1 cars and the legendary McLaren F1 supercar. The latter holds the record for the fastest naturally aspirated production car with a top whack of 384kmph. The Yamaha Motiv range of four-wheelers will be closely based on Murray’s much talked about T.25 and T.27 small cars. But unlike Murray’s prototype which has a three-seater layout akin to the McLaren F1, the Yamaha offering will be a conventional two-seater and sticking to normal doors instead of hinging canopy.

The Motiv is constructed of weight-saving plastic panels and molded to fit around the car's bubble-like glasshouse and it tips the scale at just 728kg while being 2.62 metre long and 1.46 metre wide. The concept car was powered by a 25Kw (33.5PS and 658Nm) electric motor which Yamaha says has a real world range of more than 165km and requires a charging time of three hour. It is also expected that the Motiv will be offered with a 1000cc, three-cylinder, four-stroke, petrol mill, which will produce above 100PS of power in the near future. Besides the lightweight chassis and body, the Motiv will also sport high rigidity, a rear-mounted powerplant and independent suspension on all four wheels. This isn’t the first occasion that Yamaha is entering the world of cars, however, as it has been developing and providing engines to various carmakers like Toyota, Ford and Volvo. 

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In fact, it was an engine provider for Formula 1 teams from 1989 to 1997 but had little success. Yamaha had planned to build a price-no-object sport car based on actual F1 technology in 1992 and had designed the striking OX99-11 with the help of its subsidiary Ypsilon Technology and IAD, an English engineering consultancy. However, due to escalating development cost and disagreements between IAD and Yamaha, the project had to be terminated prematurely. 

The final call hasn’t been taken by Yamaha’s top management on the Motiv yet, but if the car gets the nod, it should make production by 2016. One of the vital points in a small car’s success is distribution and Yamaha has a global distribution network already in place and it wouldn’t be too difficult for it to enter the four-wheeler spectrum globally with help of its current set-up. No details have been released about the Motiv’s pricing but it is speculated to cost around Rs 10 lakh, which is the same amount as a Smart FourTwo, its main rival.