YAHAMA(history)

Yamaha Motor Company Limited (ヤマハ発動機株式

会社, Yamaha Hatsudōki Kabushiki-gaisha (TYO: 7272 ), a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company (whose HQ is at 2500 Shingai, Iwata, Shizuoka), is part of the Yamaha Corporation. After expanding Yamaha Corporation into the world's biggest piano maker, then Yamaha CEO Genichi Kawakami took Yamaha into the field of motorized vehicles on July 1, 1955. The company's intensive research into metal alloys for use in acoustic pianos had given Yamaha wide knowledge of the making of lightweight, yet sturdy and reliable metal constructions. This knowledge was easily applied to the making of metal frames and motor parts for motorcycles. Yamaha Motor is the world's second largest producer of motorcycles. It also produces many other motorized vehicles such as all-terrain vehicles, boats, snowmobiles, outboard motors, and personal watercraft.

Yamaha Motor Co. is now a separate corporation, no longer a direct subsidiary of the Yamaha Corporation. They still share the same name and the trademark tuning fork logo, however with a small difference in the logotype of their name. The "M" in YaMaha is different - while the Motor Co's M extends all the way down to the baseline, the M of Yamaha Corp. is cropped in the lower middle part. Still, a close tie is kept between the two sister organizations. An example is a Yamaha manufacture plant in Indonesia, which both produce vital engine parts for motorcycles, and all hardware for Yamaha Drums and several of their entry-line drum kits.

In 2000, Toyota and Yamaha Corporation made a capital alliance where Toyota paid Yamaha Corporation 10.5 billion yen for a 5 per cent share in Yamaha Motor Company while Yamaha and Yamaha Motor each bought 500,000 shares of Toyota stock in return.

In 2005, Yamaha came under the investigation of the Japanese government for selling dusting helicopters to China, technology that could potentially be used for weapons.