Trail – JCO’s last outing: Yamaha Super Tenere 1200 – JCO hands over its keys to EDS

Posted on by admin

JCO’s latest release: Yamaha Super Tenere 1200

Trail - JCO's last outing: Yamaha Super Tenere 1200 - JCO hands over its keys to EDS

The first French Yamaha ambassador in 1966, Jean-Claude Olivier (JCO) left the Yamaha Motor France box after 45 seasons at the top. A fan of rally-raid, the man bowed out by unveiling the Super Tenere 1200: quite a symbol !

JCO entrusts its keys to EDS

"Today I realize how Yamaha differs from other companies by letting me choose my lifestyle and management", said Wednesday evening a Jean-Claude Olivier quite moved by welcoming a Stephane Peterhansel (six times winner of the Dakar) beaming on the handlebars of the new Yamaha Super Tenere 1200.

Eric de Seynes in brief

Aged 49, married and father of four, Eric de Seynes studied business before entering television production in the 1980s as president of Sport Action. Successively marketing manager at Mobil then sponsorship director at SEITA, he joined the importer Yamaha Sonauto (future Yamaha Motor France) alongside JCO in 1990. He became marketing and sales director before leaving in 2001 to chair the Option group. Passionate about motorsports in general and motorcycles in particular, Eric de Seynes – to whom we owe in particular the renaissance of the Moto Tour – also sits on the board of directors of several companies such as Hermès (luxury) or Alcopa (auto distributor -moto in Benelux).

Passionate self-taught, competitor and astute businessman, Jean-Claude Olivier could not resist the temptation to present the new maxi-trail of the brand with three tuning forks before officially relinquishing his position as Chairman and CEO of Yamaha Motor France from Eric de Seynes (see box opposite).

Because beyond the usual marketing discourse and the natural promotion of his parish, the Yamaha brand of which he was the instigator of the development in France in 1966 via the Sonauto structure, JCO is above all a fan of rally-raid in general and Paris-Dakar in particular, with nine participations to his credit between 1979 and 1996.

This business leader unlike any other sees this race as an outlet for his passion and above all a means of reconciling two poles: "the north and the south, driving a business and driving a competition motorcycle, one activity nourishing the other", he specifies himself.

His love at first sight for the African rally even led him to regularly lobby senior Yamaha executives to develop new models for surfing the dunes. In the same way that he had obtained the importation of the V-Max in France in 1986 (initially reserved for the American market), Jean-Claude Olivier thus succeeded in convincing the Japanese engineers to launch a twin-cylinder trail to fight with weapons on par with the competition: the Super Tenere XTZ750.

21 years later, the charismatic leader – who will remain chairman of the board of directors of Yamaha Motor France – could not therefore pass up the opportunity to lift the veil on the Super Tenere 1200, while the curtain falls on 45 years spent representing Yamaha in France…

45 years before JCO: key dates for Yamaha in France

  • 1966 : JCO makes its 1st commercial tour at the wheel of its J7…

  • 1969 : Brigitte Bardot poses with the Yam ‘AT1 125.

  • 1973 : Patrick Pons is hired by Sonauto Yamaha.

  • 1976 : Launch of the legendary XT500. JCO finished 2nd in the 2nd Enduro du Touquet.

  • 1977 : Launch of the DT 125 MX. Christian Sarron arrives at Sonauto Yamaha.

  • 1979 : First entry of an XT500 at the Paris Dakar. Patrick Pons obtained the 750 world champion title and died the following season during the British GP on August 10, 1980…

  • nineteen eighty one : Introduction of the new motorcycle license and (provisional) end of the 125 equivalence with the car license: the market plunges by 20% !

  • 1984 : Christian Sarron wins the world title in GP 250 (3rd in GP 500 the following year).

  • 1986 : The V-Max is coming to France! Jacky Vimond becomes the first French motocross world champion with Sonauto Yamaha. Yamaha becomes majority shareholder of the MBK business. JCO discovers Kenny Roberts’ BW’S (future 50 cc bestseller) in the Laguna Seca paddock and pushes Yamaha to import it to France.

  • 1990 : Creation of the company Yamaha Motor France and inauguration of the head office in Saint-Ouen-l’Aumone (95), on Sonauto cross country

  • 1990 : Stephane Peterhansel wins his first Dakar (six victories in total)

  • 1996 : Return of the B / 125 permit equivalence. Yamaha takes over leadership in France, never to quit

  • 1998 : Launch of the YZF R1, followed two years later by the Tmax

  • 2005 : First three-year contract with the Police

  • 2008 : Launch of the new V-Max

  • 2010 : Launch of the new Super Tenere. JCO passes the baton to Eric de Seynes…

Related articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *