All Tests – 2013 FZ8 Test: Spring for the Yamaha Roadster! – Interview with Eric de Seynes, CEO of Yamaha

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2013 FZ8 test: spring for the Yamaha roadster !

All Tests - 2013 FZ8 Test: Spring for the Yamaha Roadster! - Interview with Eric de Seynes, CEO of Yamaha

On the best selling motorcycle segment in France, the medium-capacity roadster, the Yamaha FZ8 made a relatively modest entry in 2010. This 2013 vintage must correct its main flaws: test drive and circuit in Alès, at the foot of the Cevennes.

Interview with Eric de Seynes, CEO of Yamaha

Site: is the FZ8 a satisfaction or a disappointment for you in terms of its sales volume ?
Eric de Seynes, CEO of Yamaha Motor France : It’s clearly a satisfaction! The bike lived up to the expectations we had placed on it. In terms of sales volume, it immediately set up to compete with the bestsellers in the category. She did so by being fully in Yamaha’s genes. We realize that it is a machine that has remained aesthetically quite consensual: it has therefore not excluded anyone! Our first ambition, which was to bring FZ6 owners upmarket, worked: customers gradually moved upmarket to the FZ8, located at a price corresponding to their expectations. The disappointment is that at times, the FZ8 was not recognized enough for its qualities. Even if it is difficult to remain objective on her own products, it seemed to us that she had perhaps been penalized by this design that was not aggressive enough. Perhaps it lacked tricks to impact more. This is why we immediately put it in competition, because there we do not cheat! In this area, the record of the FZ8 speaks for itself, at least with regard to its specific qualities. In summary, we’re pretty happy with the FZ8’s business journey so far. In terms of image, we are a little disappointed that it has not always been recognized for the accuracy of its own qualities.

MNC: When we were the salesman of the FZ6, which has monopolized the top of the charts, and that we are a competitor at heart, aren’t we disappointed not to win with the new spearhead? from the range ?
E. d. S. : Yes, of course, but when you are lucky enough to be the market leader, and every year you are the leader with one of the products of your brand, you cannot be ungrateful and maintain unhealthy frustrations! I fully respect the success of other manufacturers, we are in an extremely competitive and competitive market in which everyone is fighting with their own weapons. But frankly, there is no frustration. Especially since the context is not the same as when the Fazer 600 was released. We were then quite innovative with an engine from a sports car in a range of accessible roadsters. Today, the offer is fully covered by the manufacturers! We are criticized for not being innovative enough, but it is more and more complicated to innovate, because all the corners of the market are well plowed. It has become extremely difficult to release a new model on virgin land! Fortunately, with our competitors as with us, a large part of our customers are loyal and therefore loyal to our brands! We must therefore accept it: when a brand only lives on one or two products, it has a very strong and very legitimate position in that niche. We are trying to bring to this same niche models that we consider successful and competitive, both in price and performance, and which feed our culture, our way of seeing motorcycles. Rather therefore motorcycles of character, which distill emotion and high-level performance, with irreproachable reliability and a quality of finish that is at the level. On these plans, the FZ8 meets the aspirations of Yamaha in what we try to put in a motorcycle.

MNC: You mentioned the difficulty of innovating, which leads us to talk about your future 3-cylinder (read). Is it envisaged as a complement or as a replacement ?
E. d. S. : The basic idea is to consider that we, Yamaha, have plowed and re-plowed the land for the single cylinder, then plowed and re-plowed the land for the 4-cylinder, until we reach the Cross Plane setting, specificity of Yamaha. So we wanted to bring another form of personality. The personality of a machine is based on its engine, sometimes in positive, sometimes in negative with incomprehensible engines. It seems difficult to us to make a good motorcycle on an incomprehensible engine … We are convinced that we must first make an understandable engine, and that from there we can decline a certain number of models.

MNC: So we are initially on an idea of ​​pleasure related to the engine ?
E. d. S. : Absolutely ! Each engine is a motor of passion, as long as it responds to a cycle part and a motorcycle concept that corresponds to it. It is enough to note the enthusiasm that there is still on the XT or SRX 500: it is a motor of passion! Some twin cylinders have been and still are vectors of passion, and maybe tomorrow there will be a new engine architecture that will redevelop that! Undoubtedly, by launching into the 3-cylinder, which we had experimented with in the 1970s with the XS 750 and then 850 – two Yamaha innovations, the 3-cylinder and the cardan shaft -, we integrate that in the current context, pure performance and top speed are no longer decisive criteria. The customer looking for this driving pleasure at reasonable speeds, therefore in emotionally strong torque and engine response values, we found it interesting to return to this architecture to bring another generation of motorcycles, with a different physiognomy. The idea is not therefore to supplement or replace the 4-cylinders tomorrow: the presentation of this new FZ8 shows moreover that we remain attached to our line of 4-cylinder roadsters and super sports cars. We reason on the specific character of this new 3-cylinder to let imagine the variations that we could make, which would obviously be on new territories and complementary to our current range of motorcycles. The Yamaha approach is really to start from the heart of the motorcycle which is the engine, and according to the expression of this heart, to let express motorcycle concepts which correspond to it. No question of making this engine fit at all costs in a category of models that would be the one that is sold, or it would be necessary at all costs to make a roadster for it to work! We are much more open than that, and I especially hope that we will be much more surprising !

MNC: When it comes to scooters and urban travel, we hear a lot about new concepts with more than two wheels. What do you think ?
E. d. S. : As long as nothing is revealed, we are in the "maybe" and we have a lot of "maybe" at the moment (laughs). What is important is that Yamaha is really in a desire to provide pleasure in the use of a motorized two-wheeler, even if it has to be a scooter. This is what we followed for example with the T-Max, then the X-Max: even if they meet utility functions, we are not satisfied with them. Yamaha will continue in this line under very varied concepts, both in number of cylinders and in number of wheels. The important thing is to remain in response to customer expectations with models whose value we understand, which give confidence in their quality and reliability, and which provide driving pleasure..

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