Fiat Yamaha MotoGP Team

It's official, the new prime sponsor for the Yamaha Factory MotoGP Team is Fiat. Here's the first of the images. I, for one, like the new blue/white colour scheme... you? Here is the full press release from Fiat. The contract is for two years and in many ways is a first. I can't even remember the last time a car maker became a prime sponsor. Also, Fiat owns Ferrari, who in turn own an F1 team...

The Fiat Yamaha Team is born

For the next two MotoGP world championships, Fiat Automobiles SpA will be the new Title Sponsor of Yamaha which, starting this season, will be called the Fiat Yamaha Team. This is an original sponsorship deal which, for the very first time, links the four-wheel with the two-wheel worlds in the form of two brands that have played memorable roles in the history of racing and of industry.

In addition, the setting up of the Fiat Yamaha Team moves forward the strategy of Fiat Automobiles SpA aimed at targeting a younger clientèle with innovative, accessible products, but also with initiatives of great appeal and high emotive impact. The Fiat Automobiles SpA sponsorship deal for the next two MotoGP seasons fits into this context, for the MotoGP championship is the event which attracts young racing fans more than any other. Undisputed icon of the two-wheel circus is Valentino Rossi, creative rider of the Fiat Yamaha Team, who has carried the banner of a victorious Italy on international circuits in recent times.

So, manufacturers of great cars and great bikes, endowed with enduring character and appeal, Fiat Automobiles SpA and Yamaha have given life to an innovative cooperation arrangement which abandons the confines of a sponsorship deal pure and simple to reach out to a broader platform of communication and advertising. For the occasion a new logo has been created consisting of the wording “team”, the Italian flag and the Fiat and Yamaha logos, as well as a series of liveries that will alternate on the two works bikes of Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards. The identity of the two brands thus finds an ideal place in which to develop a new graphic and chromatic language capable of speaking directly to a dynamic, young public.

Operative worldwide, the sponsorship deal will enable Fiat Automobiles SpA to promote campaigns using the sporting image of the riders and that of the Fiat Yamaha Team technicians. In detail, the two works Yamaha bikes will carry the Fiat logo and the Italian flag on the side fairings, the front windshield and the fuel tank. In addition, the race suits of the two riders as well as the clothing of staff and mechanics will be signed Fiat in the central, front and rear parts and on the legs. Finally, the Fiat logo will be present in the official communications of the team and will be highlighted inside the hospitality area, the pits and in the trucks used for transporting bikes and materials.

Turin 5 March 2007

Pics and release courtesy: FIAT