Mourning: tragic disappearance of Jean-Claude Olivier

Jean-Claude Olivier, the emblematic founder of Sonauto (first Yamaha importer in France) and former boss of Yamaha Motor France, died on Saturday January 12, 2013, in a tragic car accident. 

Jean-Claude Olivier, the emblematic founder of Sonauto (the first Yamaha importer in France) and former boss of Yamaha Motor France, died on Saturday January 12, 2013, in a tragic car accident. 

The 67-year-old man nicknamed "JCO" was hit by a truck that had crossed the central median while he was driving his 4×4 in Pas-de-Calais, on the A1 motorway . Jean-Claude Olivier had given way to Eric de Seynes at the head of Yamaha Motor France (read in particular), but we still saw him regularly at the brand’s headquarters in Saint-Ouen l’Aumône (95).

Motorbike enthusiast, pilot and boss emeritus having gradually acquired the ear of Japanese decision makers at Yamaha, he was known to have sold the first Yamaha in France by making commercial tours himself at the wheel of his J7 in 1966..

Still at Sonauto, he hired Patrick Pons in 1973 then Christian Sarron in 1977, a year after the launch of the legendary XT500 which will be aligned on the Paris Dakar in 1979. In 1986, JCO participated in the design and success of the famous Vmax in France, while discovering Kenny Roberts’ BW’S in the Laguna Seca paddock: he pushes Yamaha to import it into France and makes it a bestseller in 50 cc !

In 1990, he created the company Yamaha Motor France in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumone (95), on the Sonauto cross country, before passing the baton 20 years later to Éric de Seynes.

On the sporting side, he notably finished second in the Enduro du Touquet 1976 and second in the Paris Dakar 1985, just behind Gaston Rahier. Jean-Claude Olivier had recently sold part of his motorcycle collection for the benefit of research on the spinal cord (read).

"This is surely one of the most difficult news to announce," said the Yamaha Motor France team "devastated by this terrible news". JCO’s funeral set to take place sometime next week.

The entire Site team joins in the grief of his family, his relatives … and all the French bikers who owe a lot to this emblematic character of motorcycles in France.

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