Re: What do you all thing about Yamaha dropping the years they are built!
I know it's hard to get past the press release headline of "No Model Year". However, please believe me when I tell you that no engine manufacturer can sell an engine to a dealer or boat builder without the engine having a model year. What the press release should be saying is that "Yamaha drops the model year designation sticker off of the engine". That's all that has occured. The engine itself will not have the model year marked on it where you can walk up and say "look, this is a 2006 model". The model year still exists, but only as defined by the serial number. I.E. On a 90 hp, serial numbers 30000-34545 might be 2006 models. 34546-35239 might be 2007 models. By law, the engines must have a production year stamped on the engine. So you might see something like this today on the tag on a 2006 engine.<br /><br />2005 MODEL F90TXR SERIAL NUMBER 34233<br /><br />The 2005 refers to the year the engine was produced. The model number tells you what model you have and the serial number tells you the....model year. How will you know it's a 2006? Several ways. First, when the engine arrives to the dealer it arrives with a legal document called a Manufacturer's Statement of Origin. That is a form that Yamaha is required to provide so that the engine can be titled. That form has the model number, serial number and yes, the model year, printed on it. It's out of the dealer's hands as far as him saying it's one year or another....Unless, he commits fraud and forges a fake MSO. Second, call Yamaha. If you are looking at buying a new engine and you have any doubts about what the year of the engine is...Call them, give them the serial number and then prepare to be amazed as they are able to tell you the model year. It's that simple. There is no drawback to the consumer other than the potential for a dishonest, criminal, dealer to commit fraud. That risk is slightly increased. That's not a good thing, but unless you are buying an engine off of the back of a truck, it shouldn't be all that risky either.<br /><br />Now to deal with some other very poorly worded lines in the press release. It is implied in the release that dealers will benefit from this change so as to not get stuck with prior year models. That's true....Sort of...In a roundabout way. Reading the release, it sounds like they are saying that all of those engines that a dealer may have in stock will no longer have a model year. Wrong. If a dealer has it...It has already been assigned a model year and that can't be changed no matter how long he has it. The new system will help alleviate that overstock in the following way. Keep in mind that dealer's will place order's far in advance of when they need the product. Dealer's are not clairvoyant. In fact, it's usually guaranteed that what you have in stock is never what you need. Now couple that with Yamaha's past policy of "You ordered it, it's now available, now bend over". Yamaha has been building to fill orders, not building and holding the engines in a warehouse hoping someone would buy them. Since Yamaha did not want to get caught with dated product it forced dealers to take engines that dealers no longer wanted. I.E. A dealer orders 10 90hp's August 1st and says send me 3 now, 3 in January and 4 in April. Yamaha sends him 2 in November, 1 in January, 1 in March, 2 in May and 4 in July. It's those 4 in July that cause the problem. The dealer takes them, he has to. But, now he has leftover models 3 weeks later as the model year changes. He's screwed. Under the new system Yamaha can be a lot more flexible. Since there is no model year until they pull it out of their warehouse they can let the dealer off the hook and not force him to take the engines he no longer needs. That means the dealer does not have to dump them on the market. That means he get's to make a profit. And that's a good thing<br />
