Yamaha works to grow engine/rigging package sales

KENNESAW, Ga. – Yamaha Marine Group has launched a new program through select dealers to encourage sales of engine/rigging packages.

Beginning July 1, the group’s Full-Line and Pre-Paired Performance dealers will offer a two-year or three-year limited warranty on all Yamaha rigging components when those components are part of a power system package the company defines as “PowerMatched,” it reported in a statement yesterday.

The PowerMatched limited warranty benefit follows a similar program initiated last April for Yamaha’s 100 plus independent boat builder partners. PowerMatched limited warranties are part of the company’s on-going effort to provide complete power systems to complement the company’s outboard motors.

“We want all of the components associated with our outboards to be designed and built to our standards,” said Ben Speciale, Yamaha Marine Group vice president, operations and planning.

To achieve the PowerMatched designation, Yamaha dealers must equip their boats with Yamaha key switches, control boxes, control cables, electrical harnesses, 10-micron filters, gauges and propellers. When a boat is rigged with all Yamaha components, the boat is then PowerMatched, and the warranties of the components extend to match the limited warranty of the outboard, two years for 2-stroke outboards and three years for 4-stroke outboards.

The limited warranties are valid for boats rigged by the dealer or delivered rigged with all PowerMatched components and Yamaha Outboards by the qualified boat builder.

The dealer verifies the use of all components in a report to Yamaha at the time of sale in the process of warranty registration on the Yamaha Marine Business System (YMBS). YMBS then activates the matching limited warranty on all components.

According to Yamaha’s own CSI surveys, boats using PowerMatched rigging components rate approximately 3 percent higher in customer satisfaction than boats rigged with aftermarket components.

Industry wide, performance and customer satisfaction issues emerge when an outboard is not properly integrated with the boat’s other powertrain components, Yamaha pointed out.

Earlier this year, Yamaha merged its marine rigging and parts operations into the Yamaha Marine Group.

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