WASHINGTON, DC – August 18, 2008 – Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA today introduced an all new line of personal watercraft, the Yamaha FZ Series, featuring its proprietary NanoXcel material used in the creation of its hulls, decks and liners resulting in increased strength, responsiveness and a weight reduction of 25%.

The introduction of the FZ series, as well as the company’s entire line of 2009 personal watercraft, was made at the company’s annual dealer meeting held this week in Washington, DC.  More than 900 dealers and international distributors were on hand for the introduction of the new NanoXcel hull and the FZ series.

Yamaha utilizes a state of the art, environmentally-sound, high compression molded process to create its personal watercraft hulls, decks and liners.  The investment in this unique process enables the creation and exploitation of a range of new technologies on the cutting edge of engineering.  In an effort to reduce weight and increase performance, Yamaha engineers deployed an exclusive nanotechnology formula, called NanoXcel, in its hull, deck and liner manufacturing.

The result is an important manufacturing achievement – the ability to create hulls, decks and liners that are 25 percent lighter than before, while being significantly stronger. 

“NanoXcel took the world by storm last year when we introduced it on our HO and SHO series WaveRunners, garnering dozens of national and international innovation awards and recognitions,” says Mark Speaks, president of Yamaha Watercraft Group.  “Now this technology will revolutionize the most performance minded segment of our industry.  This is a group that is looking for ultra high performance and distinctive ride characteristics, and now they will have a WaveRunner built using the latest in manufacturing technology which they will only find from Yamaha.”

For 2009, Yamaha models that feature NanoXcel hulls, decks and liners include the all-new Yamaha FZR™ and FZS™, as well as the FX Cruiser SHO®, FX SHO®, which were recently named Watercraft of the Year by Watercraft World® magazine, and Yamaha's all new FX® HO and FX Cruiser® HO, featuring Yamaha’s renowned 1.8 liter engine.