[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]amaha has been very busy this year as the company has rolled out a number of new models to commemorate its 60th anniversary. Lucky for us, we’ve gotten a front row seat for several of the new model launches including the 2016 Grizzly and Kodiak ATVs, as well as the new two-stroke 250X that we highlight here.
As we go to press, Yamaha has already started delivering these new ATVs to dealers, and the timing couldn’t be better. The Kodiak is billed as a work vehicle for farmers and ranchers, but it can also pull its weight as a hunting/fishing machine. It’s not too bad on the trails either.
Travis Hollins, Yamaha’s product development guru, says that we shouldn’t get caught up comparing the two models because they are aimed at different segments of the market. However, we couldn’t help it. We rode them both back-to-back, so it was only natural to notice the differences. We get it. They are different vehicles and will be used, mostly, for different purposes. The Grizzly is tall and beefy feeling, with 26-inch tires and some nice luxuries like more storage, and the push button on-command 4wd with diff-lock is great to have, especially in the muddy, rocky terrain of Wind Rock Park in Tennessee, where the media gathered to put these machines through their paces (sort of).
With all of the hunting and farming editors on hand, we were not setting any speed records. One of the editors told us that most of their audience (hunters) ride at what many of us powersports guys think is crawling. Hunters, for example, look to slowly ride up to their destination so they don’t spook their prey. Farmers and those using an ATV for work are in no hurry either, most of the time. But we were on the Grizzly while the others were on the Kodiak. The Grizzly is big and can soak up the bumps effortlessly while the Kodiaks are searching for the ideal “line” through the rocky terrain.
Yamaha says that it identified segments of the market by price points and certain features customers expect for each price range of vehicle. The Kodiak fits in the $6,500-$7,400 price point ($6,999 non-EPS), which is right in the sweet spot for consumers with 28 percent of the market in this range. Yamaha says that it has not addressed the lowest price point of the market, which is identified as $5,500-$6,400, so the bulk of the products are targeted towards the upper 72 percent. And the Kodiak is a big 50 percent slice of that pie.
The Kodiak and Grizzly are both beefed up with steel racks for added strength, and the front end has blow-molded bumpers so you can push open gates if necessary. A new 708 cc engine comes in both vehicles, although the Kodiak clutch engagement is tuned differently than the Grizzly for more of the day-to-day duties that it is likely to perform on a farm. The Grizzly throttle response and clutching is much more aggressively tuned.
With the two models, Yamaha has addressed the core of the market from recreational to working farmers and ranchers, and they don’t have to compromise with a one-model-for-all type of ATV. Maybe Yamaha should’ve named the new machines after bulls because Yamaha’s stock is on the uptick.
