INDUSTRY FOCUS: AUTOMOTIVE
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In Hamamatsu, Japan in 1887, while Paul Kruger was still the state President of the South African Republic, Torakusu Yamaha was busy establishing his business, manufacturing musical instruments, specifically pianos and reed organs. The company was incorporated in 1897 and Yamaha went on to become what we know today as one of the world’s most recognisable brands with almost 30,000 employees worldwide and an enviable product range including instruments, audio equipment, power products, motors, engines, motorcycles, golf cars, ATVs, and more. Today, the company’s famous logo still reminds of its beginnings, picturing three interlocking musical tuning forks. Yamaha products have been imported into South Africa for decades and, especially in motorcycles and marine, the company has carved out a niche in the top end of the market, targeting the premium space and customers looking for products of the finest quality.
© Yamaha Motor Europe N.V.
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But, with such superior products across such a range of sectors, Yamaha’s core message of delivering quality and ‘the performance of your life’ has fallen to the wayside somewhat, and competitors in the markets it operates in are looking to capitalise. Enter Robin Van Rensburg. This auto-industry veteran has spent time with some of the country’s biggest international brands including Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Jaguar Land Rover and BMW. Appointed as Yamaha South Africa’s Managing Director in October 2018, he has quickly gone about reestablishing the company’s impressive brand recognition by focussing on service delivery excellence. “It’s been interesting,” he tells Enterprise Africa. “The first experience was learning the variety of products as that is the big difference compared to the other brands that I’ve worked with. From road bikes to marine to music to golf cars – they’re all very different but intrinsically they stay true to Yamaha’s core values of quality. “It’s been something of a baptism of fire as there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in re-establishing and reminding the market of just how good the brand is. On the service side, our dealer network was not up to the standard expected of Yamaha dealers. Particularly in the rest of Africa – I look after the region from Mozambique Botswana, Namibia and Zambia – and we haven’t really done a good job of making sure those markets have a great service from Yamaha and so that will be the focus going forward.” He highlights supremacy of the product range combined with world-class customer service as the two irreplaceable ingredients in a recipe for success.
// THERE IS STILL A LOT OF WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE IN RE-ESTABLISHING AND REMINDING THE MARKET OF JUST HOW GOOD THE BRAND IS // “Without doubt, Yamaha has extremely strong brand recognition, even stronger than some of the international auto brands in the country. It’s probably right up there with the BMWs in terms of recognition as a brand. In terms of recognition in the premium space, that is where we need to do work because that is where we operate - our pricing is very relative to that sector. Take BMW for example, a company also in the motorcycle space – our products can be more expensive than a BMW bike, so we have a lot of work to do to remind people of the brand. There are two elements to being premium: First is quality and reliability and then there’s the customer experience that goes with buying a premium product, and that is very important.” NEW PRODUCTS Yamaha has recently introduced two exciting new products to the market for its South African customers. In the motorcycle and marine sectors, it has a new bike and a new outboard power engine which are top-of-the-range items and which will redefine standards in their industries. “We’ve recently launched the Ténéré 700 internationally (the South African launch is expected towards the end of 2019) which is an adventure bike for a market where we do not complete well right now,” details Van Rensburg. “That market is dominated by BMW and KTM and we haven’t had a strong product to compete in that space. Up until now, adventure bikes have been big 1200cc bikes which is great for a
