Re: Bring Tmax to the US

In the Feedback for Yamaha section there is a posting suggesting that Yamaha sell the Tmax to the United States (http://majestyusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=67). As that is not a conversation thread section of the forum, I am posting here to continue the discussion raised

[quote="In that thread emsac":2uc0c1dr]I have already called Yamaha public relations. But I figured that I would post here.

Yamaha. Bring the Tmax to the United States!

All other scooters really pale in comparison. I do not understand why we do not have the quality of scooter that is in Europe and elsewhere.

I am in the market for a new scooter and although at this point I think that the Majesty would be my best option, it does not WOW me. The Tmax on the other hand is awesome! I would buy it immediately if it was available.[/quote]
This question has come up on other boards about the Yamaha Tmax 500 and also the Honda Silver Wing 400. The big problem for both of these machines seems to be production cost versus the American consumer mindset.

Unlike other maxiscooters in the 400 to 500cc range, both the Tmax and the Silver Wing 400 are twin cylinder engines, similar to the Silver Wing 600 and the Suzuki Burgman 650. This makes these scooter more expensive to manufacture then single cylinder models. In fact in the case of the S'Wing, the only difference between the 400 and 600 models is the engine, so the manufacturing cost is nearly identical.

In the United States, where the general motorcyclists line of thought is bigger is better and smaller should be less expensive, the Tmax and S'Wing 400 would be anomalies. Using Japanese and European prices as a guide, these two maxiscooters would retail within a couple of hundred dollars of the Honda Silver Wing 600 and the Suzuki Burgman 650. If brought to the U.S. they would be attempting to sell in the limited maxiscooter market a 398cc and a 449cc machine for virtually the same price that the customer could buy a 582cc or a 638cc machine. Simply put, it probably wouldn't be worth their cost to important the scooters and the parts to support them for the relatively few sales they would generate.

In Europe and particularly in Japan they have two things going for them that makes all the difference in the world. First, there is already a mindset that maxiscooters are mainstream two-wheel transportation, so they sell a higher percentage of them. Secondly, the insurance, tax, and registration costs jump significantly when you go from under 500cc engines. This second point alone makes the Tmax and the Silver Wing 400 much more cost effective in those markets.

I personally would love to see the Tmax sold here. It looks to be a great machine. However, I sincerely doubt that we will see them here anytime soon.