Yamaha has announced that the Star Motorcycles brand has been integrated into its core group. Under this new arrangement, the Star cruiser range will now be sold under Yamaha’s brand.
Star Motorcycles was a sub-brand created by Yamaha back in 1996, to rival the iconic Harley-Davidson motorcycles. With a portfolio of traditional cruisers, Star was independently managed to help give the brand its own individuality (quite similar to the arrangement between Nissan and Datsun). Given the type of audience these motorcycles cater to, it is quite important for brands to maintain a distance from their Japanese origin and have their own distinct identity. Now, though, Yamaha has decided to absorb Star under its core group, to make it easier to promote the brand in parallel with other Yamaha models.
Under this new arrangement, the company will also reposition its Sport Heritage range, which currently includes the SR400, XJR1300, XV950R and the XV950 Racer. While the Star range never posed a threat to Harley-Davidson, Yamaha’s Sport Heritage and Yard built range of custom motorcycles have been greeted with a positive response in Europe and the US. As such, the integration of all sub-brands under one umbrella seems like a really smart move and should benefit Yamaha in the long run.
