During its recent dealer meeting in Amelia Island, Fla., Gravely announced its partnership with Yamaha. Together, the two manufacturers launched the first-ever Yamaha V-Twin EFI engines for the OPE industry. The Yamaha EFI engines will be available in the market first on select models in Gravely’s Pro-Turn 200 and 400 lines.

Gravely was the lead partner for the product launch, however, the engines are not exclusive to Gravely and Ariens, according to Ariens Co. Vice President of Marketing Matt Medden.

Yamaha is launching two engine models on Gravely products this year, including the Yamaha MX775 V-Twin EFI 29-horsepower engine and the Yamaha MX825 V-Twin EFI 33-horsepower engine. More models will be available in the coming years, with the potential of Gravely expanding its Yamaha offerings to more machines in 2018.

For dealers who get the new Gravely models, they won’t have to go through Yamaha for tech support or warranty processes. That can all be handled through Ariens.

The Yamaha EFI engines will be available in the market first on select models in Gravely’s Pro-Turn 200 and 400 lines.

“The business process is more streamlined when a dealer doesn’t have to make one call to the engine manufacturer and one call to Ariens. It’s pretty unique to the industry right now to tell the dealers, just call Ariens and they’ll handle the units that are powered by Yamaha directly through the same tech support lines and the same parts and warranty processors. The dealers were very receptive to that. It actually makes business a lot easier for them and it helps us continue very communication with Ariens on customer satisfaction,” Medden says.

The new Yamaha EFI engines can now be ordered on the following zero-turn commercial mowers: Gravely Pro-Turn 260 (29 horsepower engine), Gravely Pro-Turn 452 (29 horsepower engine), Gravely Pro-Turn 460 (33 horsepower engine) and the Gravely Pro-Turn 472 (33 horsepower engine).

Gravely Pro-Turn zero-turn mowers equipped with a Yamaha EFI engine start at a list price of $11,899 USD, and will be available in authorized Gravely dealerships beginning in early spring 2017.

The project between Yamaha and Gravely has been in the works for several years. Gravely contributed to the development process from the project’s inception, helping Yamaha with “voice of customer” development and defining the engine’s specifications for the OPE industry. Gravely has also extensively tested the engine on several models over the course of the past 3 years.

“We worked closed with Ariens putting many thousands of hours on the engines out in the field along with doing bench testing in Japan. We are very pleased to partner with Ariens on this project,” says Derek Schoeberle, business planning manager for Yamaha’s outdoor power equipment division.

“We’re honored that such an iconic brand like Yamaha has chosen Gravely to be its initial launch partner,” says Medden. “This project has been several years in the making, and Gravely, together with Yamaha, can’t wait to see how our customers respond to these new engines. Yamaha has been a trusted name in countless industries for years, and we’re happy to officially welcome them to the outdoor power equipment industry.”