Yamaha VMAX designer dies

The designer of the Yamaha VMAX and founder of Japanese design company GK Design has died aged 85.

Kenji Ekuan founded GK Industrial Design – the company that has been responsible for many of the most famous Yamaha motorcycle designs in the past 50 years and still works closely with Yamaha today – after the end of World War 2. The company has become intrinsically linked to Yamaha and has design houses in Italy and Holland as it works with Yamaha and other customers.

It’s reported Ekuan died of heart problems in Tokyo this week.

Ekuan created several motorcycle designs for Yamaha but the VMAX is the best known. The news of his death was announced in the same week Yamaha announced the launch of the VMAX Carbon; a model created to celebrate 30 years of the Yamaha VMAX.