I'm not holding my breath on this one.
OK, dealers are taking deposits. Let's see. Say I'm a dealer, you come
into my shop and offer, say, $500 or a grand for the "right" to the first
FJR I get, if I ever get one. I get your money in the intervening time.
Money plus time equals more money. And, it just means that I have a
confirmed sale if Yamaha does the unlikely and gets their corporate head
out of their corporate ass.
The fact that dealers are taking deposits is only an indication that
dealers are taking deposits. All I've gathered is they're not doing it
with Yamaha's blessing. I'd say this indicates that there are at least
SOME buyers out there, but says nothing about getting it here. That would
require both buyers and sellers.
If Yamaha were planning to do this, why not this year? No sense to wait
longer. The Thunder Ace and Thunder Cat were slower to arrive here,
courtesy EPA, but Yamaha pretty well let everyone know we'd be getting the
bikes. They're not dropping any hints on the FJR, in fact they've stated
clearly that they don't intend to bring it in, ever.
But a new ST, or a Kawasaki sports-tourer.....those two are both FAR more
likely to grace our shores.
Phil
