Yamaha Motor Europe has clarified how the R1 will continue in Europe after its discontinuation as a road bike.
As previously stated by Yamaha Racing, the R1 will continue to be built as a track-only bike after its European production as a road bike is discontinued, which will happen next year.
At the time of the initial announcement of the R1’s discontinuation as a road bike, Yamaha made specific mention of the forthcoming Euro5+ emissions regulations, which, as YME confirmed in a statement, means that production of the R1 as a road-legal model will continue, globally speaking, for markets outside Europe. The continuation of global production also means the continuation of the R1 development program.
In its statement, Yamaha Motor Europe also admits the additional reason for the continuation of the R1 as a road-legal model in Europe is customer demand. “In line with changing customer demand and needs,” says YME, “Yamaha Motor Europe has taken the decision that the future of its track-oriented Supersport models will be dedicated exclusively to circuit use from 2025.”
By making the R1 circuit-exclusive, says YME, there will be “more opportunities for customers to access performance-enhancing GYTR parts”, which are available from Yamaha GYTR Pro Shops, of which there are several across Europe, all run by the same people who manage Yamaha’s official WorldSBK bikes.
The move means that Yamaha will follow Suzuki into a future without 1,000 cc sports bikes, since Suzuki discontinued the GSX-R1000R at the end of 2022.
As surprising as the news is, it wasn’t much of a surprise to hear it, and what we may be seeing is manufacturers moving away from high-value, low-volume premium bikes and investing in higher-volume areas of the market. And while this sounds like the problem is about to be solved, it won’t be for a while.
For existing models, the deadline for selling non-Euro5+ compliant motorcycles will be 2025. Meanwhile, Euro6 isn’t due to arrive until the end of the decade.