Speaking at the ongoing Tokyo Motor Show, a representative of Yamaha said the company had no plans to design or produce cars in the foreseeable future.
Over the past half century, the company has taken part in numerous automotive R&D projects, but apparently could never come up with a vehicle sufficiently unique to justify bringing it out onto the overcrowded market.
That said, the Japanese manufacturer did have quite a few memorable projects. Four years ago, it came to the Tokyo show with the Yamaha Sports Ride Concept (see video). The sports car was a life-sized design mockup without any actual tech inside. It then proceeded to unveil the Motiv.e, an urban car concept based on the same iStream architecture as the Sports ride, and later on presented the Cross Hub, a pickup truck with motorized wheels.
Now, Yamaha prefers to focus on motorbikes and quad bikes, such as the MWC-4 Hybrid or the robotic, AI-powered Motoroid.
Over the past several years, Yamaha only ever designed the exterior of the new cars, while its partners handled the powertrain and the on-board tech. It was the other way round back in the 1960s, when the company used to produce the Toyota 2000GT Coupe in partnership with Nissan and Toyota. Yamaha was known for its car engine designs and even built a supercar once. Called the OX99-11, it came powered by a proprietary V12.