Yamaha Sports Car Announcement! New Yamaha T40 Sports Coupe

Before I get onto the topic, let me tell you a short story. So I was in this empty classroom and I had just remembered about that Yamaha truck concept from the Tokyo Auto Show, the Yamaha Cross Hub Concept. So I went to my laptop (my school uses laptops) and searched it up. I thought that it was cool for Yamaha to make concept cars and I wished they made one for production spec. I then began scrolling down through the page for the Cross Hub until something catches my eye. A Youtube video with the title, T40 Test Footage. Here’s a screenshot of it.

I was confused for a sec, “A Yamaha sports car that’s being tested?” The thought was blasphemous! Yamaha is only known for motorcycles, watercrafts, engines, etc. (Also that one supercar that they made but that was a long time ago.) I couldn’t understand the fact that Yamaha was actually going to build a sports car! Short story, Yamaha is planning on making a sports car!

If you want to see this test mule video by Yamaha themselves, here’s the link:

Yamaha has always made concepts of 4-wheeled vehicles with a Yamaha badge. But they never really actually put an effort into making one. The only time that Yamaha actually made a sports car or any car for that matter is the unusual but demon-fast 1992 Yamaha 0X99-11. That car had a 3.5L V12 that made a whopping 400 HP. An engine that was originally for an F1 car was placed into a quirky-looking supercar. Although the car was never really was made into a production model and only 3-prototypes were made. It showed that Yamaha could actually make a decent sports car.

Fast forward to 2017, and this video was posted in November of 2017, the same year as the 2017 Tokyo Auto Show. Although Yamaha didn’t reveal any sports car concept that year, they did so in 2015 with the Yamaha Sports Concept. It could be the good reception of the car is one of the reasons why Yamaha is making this car. What’s weird is that no one on the press had written anything of it. Even big journalist companies like Car and Driver, Motor Trend, Top Gear, The Drive, or even Car Throttle had covered it.

Now I know this might be some old news, but this might the only coverage of it as we speak. For now, there are no specs of this car and overall no spy shots that had risen from this. So what I’m going to say might just be a guess.

The Yamaha T40 will be equipped with a 2.3L Turbo or 2.5L Turbo (whatever, a 4-cylinder turbo) and mated to a 6-speed manual or 6-speed sequential transmission. It will be mid-engine, RWD and possibly have no electronic supports like ABS or ESC.

Expect this car to arrive somewhere between 2018 or 2019. Overall, I’m excited about a Yamaha sports car. Can’t wait!