The start to 2022 was a mixed bag for Yamaha, as the powersports giant saw net sales increase by 37.6 billion yen, an 8.5 percent bump over the same period last year. But operating income dropped by 16.9 percent, or 8.2 billion yen. Shocking no one, Yamaha put the discrepancy down to soaring materials prices and a constricted supply chain in the wake of COVID-19.
According to Powersports Business, Yamaha enjoyed robust demand for UTVs, motorcycles, and outboard engines, but semiconductor shortages that led to delivery delays, soaring aluminum prices, and spiking labor rates offset the high sales figures.
Despite strong sales and continuing demand, it’s hard to see the news as rosy, given that the issues Yamaha cited don’t look like they’ll let up any time soon. Still, when things inevitably do ease off, there could be a resulting surge in sales to meet pent-up demand.
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