Yanmar celebrated its 100th anniversary last March and, looking ahead to the next century, announced the "Yanmar Premium Project" on the 25th at a hotel in Osaka.
Despite its global market share in agricultural machinery and marine diesel engines, Yanmar's corporate image in Japan has been poor. This initiative aims to eliminate this and establish Yanmar as a premium brand.
The project involves redesigning Yanmar's tractors, marine boats, and corporate logo, which are Yanmar's pride and joy, and promoting highly functional marine and agricultural wear. The tractors and marine boats were designed by Kiyoyuki Okuyama, who became Director and Product Designer of Yanmar Holdings in April of this year. Kashiwa Sato designed the corporate logo, and Naoki Takizawa designed the marine and agricultural wear. In the second part of the press conference, four players, including Shinji Kagawa of Manchester United, the British soccer team Yanmar supports, appeared to promote the "New Yanmar." Both the marine and agricultural wear designed by Takizawa emphasize functionality and fashion. Takizawa declared, "Marine and fashion are inherently closely related, and luxury brands always have cruise lines. Yanmar's marine wear competition is with Western luxury brands." Six looks are proposed for the marine wear, based on white and red. These include waterproof and down jackets. All items feature three-dimensional cut. Regarding agricultural wear, Takizawa stated, "I want to promote cool and profitable agriculture." The agricultural wear features a titanium brown base color that blends seamlessly with the landscape. Six looks are also proposed, featuring three-dimensional cut and stretch nylon material. While both garments are simple in appearance, the jackets feature numerous pockets on the back for easy storage of various items, making them ideal for work on the sea or in the fields.
Regarding the new company logo, called "Flying Y," which is based on the letter Y, Sato explained the key points of the design, saying, "The Flying Y is, of course, designed to resemble the initial Y of Yanmar, but we also devised a shape that is reminiscent of the dragonfly, Oniyanma, which is the origin of the Yanmar company name." He concluded by saying, "Many Japanese companies think that if they make good products, they'll be fine, but that's not enough. We are now in an age where you can't become a brand unless you make good products and communicate that properly. Yanmar's corporate value will be properly communicated from today onwards through our new concept tractors, marine boats, clothing, and corporate logo."
