some xs history,part #1

Indeed - and I must say that Toyota definitely does not own Yamaha.

It is very common in Japanese business for two companies to own parts of each - making the actual ownership of any given company quite difficult to determine with any certainty. This interlocking ownership model is very prevalent in the auto industry where each major OEM has "its own" family of supplier companies. This often means some measure of mutual financial ownership which helps to stabilize the marketplace and can help to ward off hostile takeovers.

This form of alliance / ownership relationship is called "keiretsu" and it means that the normal competitive environment for automotive parts supply contracts with Japanese OEMs really doesn't exist as it does for western companies. That is why for example, Honda cars and motorcycles virtually all have Keihin carbs and fuel injection equipment and Yamahas virtually all have Mikuni fuel management equipment.

These relationships do also exist in the west (although not really in the recent past) and can even extend to intermarriage among the various major shareholding families, just as the Ford and Firestone families had intermarried as well as having a strong corporate alliance (at least until the Ford Explorer tire failure debacle in the late 1990s - early 2000s).

Anyhow - a very interesting and complex topic.
 
Last edited:
Indeed. Certainly, Yamaha has done high performance engine work for various OEMs over the years.

A good example was the mid 90s Ford Taurus SHO - unless I am mistaken, that big V6 engine in that machine had been built by Yamaha.

Pete
And this V8 for Volvo, also used in the UK made Noble sports car:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_B8444S_engine
Maybe the most powerful "Yamaha" made?
Yamaha outboard engines are also pretty impressive, the latest is a 425 hp, 5.6liter V8....(A bit more oomph than my old Mercury 90 ELPTO......).
 
Last edited:
Separate crankcase and transmission on the Hosk - a big jump had to be made to the XS unit construction.
Wish I could remember the source of the article I was reading last week that showed a stronger 2000GT connection.
 
Pretty sure the early 90's mr2 had yamaha engines. This was the mid engine model.

Yup, I had a mid 90's JDM Toyota Levin, it had a 4-AGE engine with a five valve head designed by Yamaha, the same as what was in the MR2.

IMG_1785.JPG

IMG_0142.jpg
 
Yup, I had a mid 90's JDM Toyota Levin, it had a 4-AGE engine with a five valve head designed by Yamaha, the same as what was in the MR2.
View attachment 170345
View attachment 170346

Cool! That's the other interesting thing - each of the major OEMs "tunes" its offerings for each individual market and so certain models of Toyota that are very common in Europe or Asia are totally unknown in North American - and vice-versa. One type of body style that largely dropped out of the North American market many years ago were three- and five-door hatchbacks. Aside from VW, I can't think of any other brand that has offered a hatch here for some time which is too bad because they are pretty versatile cars. Unfortunately, I hate owning cars that have electrical problems so no VWs for me, I'm afraid.

Also, the same car "badge" may be used in other markets but the cars are actually quite different. For example, the Honda Accord was sold in North American as well as in China and they look just about identical, but the Chinese version is about 4 or 5 inches narrower. This was reportedly because streets in Chinese cities are narrower, but I think that the NAM version was actually wider because North American @sses are wider and the Asian version of the car felt cramped here.

Sometimes the same cars are built under different names for different markets. For example, earlier variants of the little two-seater Mazda sports car was always called the "Miata" in North America but it was badged the "Eunos" in Europe. I have no idea why this was done because, to me, Eunos sounds a lot like eunich which is hardly a good name for a sports car.

....sort of like calling a motorcycle a "Hummer"......;)

Oh - and I just ran across a spy photo of the next-gen VW station wagon people & stuff hauler which is supposed to debut in about 2023. It has a number of unique features including:
  • extra heavy-duty towing capacity;
  • substantial passenger and parcel carrying capacity;
  • extra robust 25 MPH bumpers;
  • flex-fuel capability (it can use wood, coal, oil, furniture, old clothing...whatever you've got lying around);
  • acceleration is reportedly "sedate" but the handling is predicted to be very, very steady.
VW_train.JPG
 
Last edited:
Eunos was a brand moniker for Mazda high end vehicles like Lexus or Acura.
The car is known as the MX-5 worldwide including the States. The Miata nameplate was used in the States to distinguish it from the RX-7 which had a well deserved reputation for guzzling fuel. My rotary truck got 16 MPG no matter how fast or slow I drove it. My RX-7 got 18 MPG at 60 or 120 . Like clockwork.
I want my rotary truck back. Good for 8000 rpm with a 4.56 rear end. The automotive equivalent of a RD400.
 
Back
Top