What niche is next?(INTUNE)

If you were to look up the word "niche" in a dictionary, one of the definitions you would see is "a distinct segment of a market." The ATV industry is becoming a niche business.

After returning from the Yamaha Big Bear First Ride (see p. 54), I started thinking about what is happening to the ATV industry. I'm sure Yamaha will be successful with this ATV. It's a good bike, and the company had a specific target market for the quad. In essence, this machine was built for a niche.

By niche, I mean an audience of specific buyers. In the case of the Big Bear, the updates that the machine had for 2007 were targeted to people in eight specific states.

Yamaha said its research unveiled that five-speed, air-cooled 4x4s are 25 percent of the total 4x4 market. It also took a good look at where machines of that type were sold: Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. These states comprise about 50 percent of the total five-speed, air cooled market. That translates to roughly a 50,000-unit business.

I think the spirit of competition led Yamaha to these findings when looking into where and why Honda was selling so many Ranchers. It was in the spirit of competition, and with Yamaha's desire to build a machine aimed specifically at a group of users, that the 2007 Big Bear 400 4x4 IRS was born. It's a definite niche ATV.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

So how far will niche machines go?