About Yamaha

Yamaha is a responsible corporation that employs more than 1,000 people in the United States and produces products that inspire and improve people’s lives. Yamaha employees give back to their communities and strive every day to satisfy our customers and exceed their expectations with products and services of superior quality, unmatched performance, and extraordinary value.

Yamaha Motor Company was founded in Japan in 1955 with the creation of its first motorized product, the YA-1 Motorcycle. This single product was the launching point for what today is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of recreational products including motorcycles, ATVs and Side-by-Side vehicles (SxS), scooters, generators, personal watercraft, outboard motors, snowmobiles and golf cars.

Yamaha’s U.S. operations, Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A. (YMUS), opened its headquarters in 1977. Since then, Yamaha’s U.S. presence has expanded to include offices and facilities in Cypress, Calif.; Newnan and Kennesaw, Ga.; and Pleasant Prairie, Wis. In addition to the 1,000 people employed at these facilities, thousands more are employed by Yamaha dealerships and parts suppliers across the country.

The facility in Newnan, Ga., Yamaha Motor Manufacturing Company (YMMC), was founded in 1986 and was the first manufacturing plant opened by Yamaha in the United States. YMMC began producing golf cars and watercraft in 1987, expanded to include ATVs in 1997, and started building Rhinos in 2003.

The Yamaha Rhino was conceived of, designed, engineered and is assembled in the U.S.A. Every Rhino sold around the world is built in Newnan.

Responsible Corporation
Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A., is a responsible corporation supporting countless safety and trail and land use initiatives. Yamaha also has a special relationship with Feed The Children out of the company’s headquarters in Cypress.

Here are some of the organizations Yamaha supports:

Feed The Children
Yamaha has worked with Feed the Children for over 10 years, raising several hundred thousand dollars and feeding tens of thousands of children. Feed the Children is an international and nonprofit relief organization that delivers food, medicine, clothing and other necessities to individuals, children and families who lack those essentials.

Tread Lightly!
Tread Lightly!, Inc. is a national nonprofit organization with a mission to proactively protect recreation access and opportunities in the outdoors through education and stewardship initiatives.

The organization’s goal is to balance the needs of people who enjoy outdoor recreation with our need to maintain a healthy environment and it’s leading the way to help remedy current recreation issues.

Tread Lightly! is funded by donations from individual members, corporations, dealerships, clubs, retailers, government and others interested in spreading the message of responsible and ethical use of the outdoors. Federal partners include the National Park Service, Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and Army Corps of Engineers.

Yamaha has worked closely with Tread Lightly! since 1997 and continues to expand the relationship through the Yamaha OHV Access Initiative.

Specialty Vehicle Institute of America
Since 1983, the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America® (SVIA) has promoted the safe and responsible use of All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) through rider training programs, public awareness campaigns, and state legislation.

The SVIA also serves as a resource for ATV research, statistics, and vehicle standards. The SVIA, based in Irvine, Calif., is a not-for-profit trade association.

Yamaha has been a supporting member of SVIA since it was created.

Yamaha Safe Rider Program
As a supporter of safe and responsible recreation, Yamaha offers purchasers and all family members (who are above the minimum age for use of the purchased vehicle) the opportunity to take a safe rider class free of charge. Yamaha believes that anyone operating a motorsports vehicle should know how to operate the vehicle properly, how to identify his or her limits and to not ride beyond those limits, the necessary safe riding gear and how to be a responsible member of the off-road community. Yamaha encourages all riders to take a riders safety class. For more information about rider safety classes in your area, please visit www.atvsafety.org.

Yamaha OHV Access Initiative
The Yamaha OHV Access Initiative is a proactive, grassroots program supported by Yamaha dealers and customers nationwide promoting safe, responsible riding and sustainable, open riding areas.

Through the OHV Access Initiative, Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A. provides GRANTs to deserving organizations to help further the program’s goal of Guaranteeing Responsible Access to our Nations Trails. Yamaha encourages clubs, associations and agencies to submit detailed applications for their specific needs.

The Yamaha OHV Access Initiative was launched in January of 2008, and since then Yamaha has injected more than $875,000 into its mission of supporting safe, responsible riding and open, sustainable riding areas. Yamaha expects to top $1-million in support through the Initiative in 2009.