The European president of Yamaha has spoken out to clarify the recent partnership with CFMOTO, stating that any motorcycles built as a result will be exclusively for the Chinese domestic market.
In September 2023, Yamaha announced a new partnership with China’s CFMOTO, leading to speculation that some Yamaha models intended for Europe may now be built by the Hangzhou company.
In fact, CFMOTO already has a similar agreement with the Austrian brand KTM, with the recently relaunched 790 Adventure and Duke models being manufactured by CFMOTO in China.
Now, Yamaha in Japan has issued a statement stating categorically that: “the collaboration consists only of an industrial cooperation to manufacture vehicles in China, for the Chinese market.”
To further clarify, MCN spoke with Yamaha Europe President Eric de Seynes, who said: “This agreement with CFMOTO is really a partnership to support the huge Chinese market with specific Yamaha models.”
“When I talked to our President about the proximity between CFMOTO and KTM… it seemed to me that they were completely distant, even separated. In addition, CFMOTO is much larger than we expected from Europe, they have very specific division activities and it seems that they don’t even talk to each other much,” he continued.
“This deal is not at that stage [KTM]. It is really an opportune deal to continue serving the Chinese market properly. This is my understanding. So, it is not to challenge Stefan (Pierer, KTM boss).”
