Yes, and what is marketing, but the ad department giving you the 'push' to buy the product, whether it's laundry detergent, clothes, or a motorcycle? Males buy something to clean their clothes; something to keep them warm or cool, within work and/or social requirements, but when it comes to motorcycles, new, from the dealer's floor, well, they want performance, style, and reliability. Of-course, 'performance' can mean different things to different people. To the Harley rider, it's not about quarter-mile times as it is about quality of finish, appearance, and inclusion into a social structure which arguably is as-strong as any brand recognition on the planet.
For purchasers of power cruisers, some people want v-twins, some inline-4's, and we want the historically-dominant V-4. After-all Yamaha has built the V-Max (Gen 1) for more years than Ford did the Model T, the car generally-hailed as one of the greatest transportation successes of all-time. Talk about success in marketing! The Madura is "New Coke" and the VMax is still in production.
For purchasers of power cruisers, some people want v-twins, some inline-4's, and we want the historically-dominant V-4. After-all Yamaha has built the V-Max (Gen 1) for more years than Ford did the Model T, the car generally-hailed as one of the greatest transportation successes of all-time. Talk about success in marketing! The Madura is "New Coke" and the VMax is still in production.
The Eliminator was a really nice effort by Kawasaki. But, seeing and riding both, I will say that Yamaha screwed together a better engineered machine. Forget the styling and performance for a minute. The actual design and execution, as much as anything, was responsible for the VMax's success.
For that matter, from a styling perspective, to my eye, the Eliminator is no-nonsense bad-***. Pure energy. A scooter distilled down to the lowest common denominator.
It's been mentioned once or twice in the mainstream press that the VMax "persona" was a bit contrived. Maybe so, but it struck a nerve.