OBA85-Sales-Fails-17
Yamaha XS1100 Venturer: Yamaha had massive ambitions of their fully faired big tourer in the USA market in the late 1970s and invested a fortune in marketing. They even paid for huge highway display advertising. While there was nothing wrong with the bike, its formula obviously did not impress sufficient buyers and dealers reported little interest and disappointing sales. Probably a case of too much too soon, especially in advertising. By the time consumerism slowly moved acceptance up to very large tourers, this hi-spec Series One had been sidelined and the advertising manager fired.
