Are Yamaha's FZ And MT Motorcycles The Same? Here's What You Need To Know

Like any other automaker, Yamaha's motorcycle lineup has evolved over the years. Some models, like the powerful V-MAX and legendary YZF-R6 sport bike, didn't survive the evolutionary process. Meanwhile, new models, like the MT-Series, sprang up, focusing on what Yamaha calls "Kodo," the "Soul Beat" of the motorcycle engine. Still, other name plates like FZ and Fazer were applied to Yamahas from the MT-Series specific to the United States.

When Yamaha launched the MT-09, Yamaha Motor USA opted to replace the MT with the letters FZ (via CycleNews). The USA naming convention stuck with the FZ-09 and later continued with the FZ-07 and FZ-10 as they were released during the years that followed.

There's really not much to differentiate between the FZ and MT-Series Yamahas of the same class. Ultimately, a 2017 FZ-09 is the same as a 2017 MT-09, and so on, aside from any regional differences required to meet homologation criteria for racing efforts.

Motorcycle speculates that Yamaha Motor USA opted for the FZ name as it was familiar and well-received due to the FZ6R and FZ1 that were still in showrooms when the MT-09 launched in 2013. In fact, the FZ1 still ranks as an affordable pre-owned Yamaha motorcycle option, even though it was discontinued after the 2016 model year.

The importance of Yamaha Motor's North American sales is evidenced by the region's 25.3 percent share of total sales in 2023. Japan was a close second with 24.1 percent, and Europe, the next most significant single region, accounted for 18.3 percent of the company's sales. China alone brought in 13.8 percent of Yamaha's sales, while "other regions" combined for the remaining market. While these percentages include all of Yamaha Corporation's sales, including musical instruments, audio equipment, and Yamaha Motor products, forecasts indicate up to $3.85 billion in revenue will come from motorcycle sales in the Americas in 2024.

As an effort to strengthen the "global community of MT riders," Yamaha Motor USA dropped the FZ moniker from its MT-Series motorcycles and started using its given name like everyone else, according to the CycleNews report from 2017. Worldwide, Yamaha sold the most motorcycles in 2017, with around 5.39 million motorcycles sold. This number fell dramatically in 2020 to 3.83 million and slowly climbed to around 4.83 million in 2023. However, the FZ/MT naming confusion isn't a likely source of the decline given the problems the world endured in 2020.

On its global webpage, Yamaha Motor discusses "The MT Series Pedigree" and states that "MT = Mega Torque," while the leading image for the page says "Master of Torque." Given that the word "torque" appears 27 times compared to the single instance of the word "horsepower," the MT-engine design's capacity for low-end grunt is on point.

It all started with the Yamaha MT-01 V-Twin concept unveiled at the 1999 Tokyo Motor Show. Straying from the YZF-R1's focus on speed, Yamaha designers envisioned a naked motorcycle with plenty of torque and great handling, making it "nimble and agile for the urban jungle" many of its customers found themselves in rather than the racetrack where the R1 was most at home.

The MT-03 came next in 2006 with its 660cc parallel twin. Several years passed before the MT-01 was discontinued and a naming convention revision saw the MT-03 reduced to 321cc. The MT-09 parallel-triple was introduced for the 2014 model year and was followed soon after by the cross-plane crankshaft parallel-twin MT-07 and flagship inline-four-cylinder MT-10 Hyper Naked bikes.