Motorsports and boating giant to move U.S. HQ to Kennesaw
After a half-century in California, an international motorsports company is moving its American home base to Georgia.
Yamaha Motor Co. announced it will relocate its U.S. headquarters to Kennesaw, where the Japanese company already operates a marine sports campus. The move will happen in stages through 2028 and will vacate Yamaha’s longtime corporate home near Los Angeles.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp used the occasion to tout the Peach State’s business-friendly leadership and policies, and invited other companies to follow suit.
“This is another loud and clear testament to what we offer job creators from around the world,” Kemp said in a news release. “To any other California-based companies looking for a better home, we’ll give you plenty of reasons to keep Georgia on your mind.”
Kemp, a Republican, and his California counterpart, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, have sparred at times, particularly over the film industry. Kemp and Newsom could be contenders for their respective parties’ nomination in the 2028 presidential race.
Yamaha, which is known for manufacturing ATVs, motorcycles, boat engines and personal watercraft, established its U.S. subsidiary in the late 1970s, selecting the city of Cypress within metro Los Angeles for its corporate epicenter. But operations have slowly shifted to the Southeast.
In 1986, Yamaha opened a 1.3 million-square-foot factory in Newnan, which employs about 2,000 workers. In 1999, Yamaha relocated its marine business to Kennesaw, a Cobb County suburb about 25 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta. The motorsports business followed in 2019.
When Yamaha three years ago created a marine innovation center, it chose to place it in Kennesaw — along with 100 additional employees.
Company leadership said the headquarters relocation is driven by “structural reforms aimed at improving profitability of its U.S. operations,” according to a news release. Yamaha cited tariffs and other market environment changes as motivating factors.
Kemp told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he and state officials first discussed the project with company leaders during a meeting at the Southeast U.S.–Japan conference, where they also talked about Yamaha’s existing jobs in Georgia.
He pointed to broader economic trends he said are benefiting Georgia, noting that economic growth in the South has recently outpaced the Northeast for the first time in U.S. history. Kemp argued that the shift is helping drive corporate relocations and expansions across the region.
Kemp also contrasted Georgia’s policies with those of other states — particularly California — arguing that higher taxes and budget deficits elsewhere are pushing companies to relocate.
“You look in the state of Georgia, we’re doing tax refunds, tax cuts, and we’re growing jobs, and we’re balancing our budget,” he said. “That really speaks to why they’re moving.”
Yamaha’s relocation did not involve any discretionary incentives, according to a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
The move will result in Yamaha selling all of its Cypress assets, including its 25-acre campus and all offices and warehouses on the property.
— Staff writer Greg Bluestein contributed to this article.
About the Author
Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He's been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people's lives.
