First-party model history
What Yamaha says its WaveRunners did
Yamaha Motor's own model history, 1986 to 2027, restated. It is a first-party document, which makes it the strongest source on this site, and it still cannot answer a fitment question. Read the scope note before you use a year off it.
Where this comes from
History of WaveRunners (PWC), Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. . Read once on 2026-09-08. This is the manufacturer writing about its own product, which is the strongest kind of source on this site and still not a service manual.
7 years in this span have no entry
1988, 1989, 1991, 2013, 2018, 2020, 2023
Yamaha wrote a history, not a catalogue, so it skips years in which it considers nothing worth recording happened. Those years are not empty in the lineup: they are empty in the source. Absence here is editorial selection and is not evidence that a model did not exist.
Year by year
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1986
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WaveRunner 500 · Marine Jet 500T in Japan
Model that opened the modern sit-down PWC market.
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: world's first sit-down, open-stern production PWC
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1987
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WaveJammer 500 · Marine Jet 500S in Japan
Fixed steering column, small hull. Concept later carried by WaveBlaster.
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: world's first sit-down solo-rider PWC
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1990
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WaveRunner III 650 · Marine Jet 650TL in Japan
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: world's first 3-passenger PWC
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: first Yamaha PWC with reverse
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SuperJet 650
Yamaha's entry into the stand-up category.
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1992
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WaveRunner VXR 650 · Marine Jet 650TX in Japan
Deluxe tandem model; new concave hull for sharper turning with less slip.
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1993
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WaveBlaster 700 · Marine Jet 700TZ in Japan
Motorcycle-style banked-turn ride. Dominated sport-class racing; strong cult following.
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1994
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WaveRaider 700 · Marine Jet 700RA in Japan
V-hull runabouts become the speed standard.
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FX1 · Marine Jet 700FX in Japan
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1995
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WaveVenture 700 · Marine Jet 700VN in Japan
Full-size 3-seater; became a rental-fleet staple.
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WaveRaider 1100
WaveRaider upgraded to 1100cc.
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1996
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WaveBlaster II
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SuperJet 700
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WaveVenture 1100 · Marine Jet 1100VN in Japan
Named in the narrative section as the up-sizing milestone.
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1997
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WaveRunner GP1200
Most powerful engine in the industry at launch; compact, agile body.
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1998
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WaveRunner XL1200
Pushed PWC into touring, towsports and family riding.
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1999
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WaveRunner SUV1200
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: world's first 4-passenger PWC
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WaveRunner XL1200 Ltd.
Industry's highest horsepower at the time.
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2000
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WaveRunner GP1200R
New hull and body; the muscle-craft benchmark.
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2001
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WaveRunner XLT1200
Redesigned XL1200 Ltd. with new front end.
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2002
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WaveRunner FX140
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: world's first 4-stroke PWC
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: first low-emission 4-stroke PWC (May 2002)
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2003
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WaveRunner GP1300R
1200cc bored out, plus fuel injection and high-performance catalytic converter.
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WaveRunner FX Cruiser
FX140 variant with hip-support seats.
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2004
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WaveRunner FX High Output
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WaveRunner FX Cruiser High Output
4-stroke enters the high-performance arena.
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2005
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WaveRunner VX Sport
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WaveRunner VX Deluxe
4-cylinder engine derived from FX High Output; new hull; value positioning.
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2006
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WaveRunner FX Cruiser High Output
Flagship refresh, new hull color, sporty analog meter panel.
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WaveRunner VX700
Successor to XL700 for rental fleets; 700cc 2-stroke on the VX hull.
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2007
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WaveRunner VX Cruiser
New "Cruiser Seat" on the VX hull.
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2008
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WaveRunner FX Cruiser SHO
NanoXcel hull 25% lighter than earlier SMC; cruise assist and other electronic controls.
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WaveRunner SuperJet
All-new race-oriented hull for sharp turns and neutral handling.
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2009
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WaveRunner FZR
Light quick-turning hull, stand-up-derived riding position, telescopic steering.
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WaveRunner FX High Output
All domestic (Japan) runabout models now 4-stroke.
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2010
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WaveRunner VX Sport
VX Series renewal - new deck, black hull, class-leading fuel efficiency claim.
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2011
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WaveRunner VXR
Claimed lightest body of any runabout at the time.
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2012
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WaveRunner FX Cruiser SHO
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WaveRunner FX Cruiser HO
All-new longer NanoXcel hull; mechanical neutral; Theater-Style Cruiser Seat.
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WaveRunner VX700S
Industry's only remaining 2-stroke runabout at the time.
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2014
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WaveRunner FX Cruiser SVHO
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WaveRunner FX SVHO
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WaveRunner FZS SVHO
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WaveRunner FZR SVHO
SVHO engine introduced: 1.8L four-stroke four-cylinder, supercharged and intercooled; successor to SHO.
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2015
RiDE
Right lever forward, left lever slow/reverse, release both for neutral. Patented bucket forces water out the sides as a virtual rudder. Managed by a Boat Control Unit (BCU) tuned per model.
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: world's first handlebars with dual throttle controls
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2016
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WaveRunner VX
WaveRunner 30th anniversary.
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2017
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WaveRunner EX Deluxe
EX Series is the affordable entry line.
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WaveRunner GP1800
Closed-course racing focus; billed as quickest and fastest Yamaha PWC to that point.
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2019
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WaveRunner FX Cruiser SVHO
All-new deck and hull, self-draining footwells, multi-mount accessory system.
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: industry's first color touchscreen instrumentation
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WaveRunner EXR
ECU tuned for ~10% more hp than the rest of the EX line; top-loader intake grate, 40mm pump extension.
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2021
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WaveRunner SuperJet
First 4-stroke SuperJet. L-MODE limits output to ~85% (~40 mph). Three-position adjustable handle pole extending up to 50mm.
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WaveRunner VX Cruiser HO
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WaveRunner VX Cruiser
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WaveRunner VX Deluxe
VX Series all-new; 4.3-inch Connext helm control with touchpad.
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WaveRunner GP1800R SVHO
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WaveRunner GP1800R HO
New deck, tilt-adjustable handlebars, 4.3-inch Connext, industry-first Auto Trim with Cornering Control and Launch Control, new hull liner and CoG, new intake grate and jet pump.
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2022
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WaveRunner JetBlaster
Raised lightweight handlebars, stern foot chocks, custom-tuned electric trim.
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WaveRunner FX Limited SVHO
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WaveRunner FX Cruiser SVHO
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WaveRunner FX SVHO
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WaveRunner FX Cruiser HO
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WaveRunner FX HO
FX series gains 7" or 5" glass touchscreen infotainment, factory audio, Drive Control with Auto Trim.
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2024
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WaveRunner FX Cruiser HO
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WaveRunner FX HO
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WaveRunner GP HO
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WaveRunner VX Cruiser HO
1.9L HO marine engine
Replaces the 1812cc HO. Four-stroke, four-cylinder, 16-valve. Optimized intake/exhaust paths and a 10% larger throttle body. Engine cover uses cellulose nanofiber (CNF) reinforced resin - Yamaha claims a world first for mass-produced vehicle parts.
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2025
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JetBlaster PRO
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JetBlaster DLX
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JetBlaster
New JetBlaster series - most compact sit-down WaveRunners. First WaveRunner with a reinforced polypropylene deck instead of fiberglass.
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2026
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FX Limited SVHO (40th Anniversary)
Gold YAMAHA side emblem and gold "WAVERUNNER 40th" visor emblem.
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CROSSWAVE
Positioned for fishing, cruising and adventure.
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: industry's first modular walkaround PWC
WaveRunner 40th anniversary.
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2027
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WAVEBLASTER
WaveBlaster name revived with redesigned hull and deck.
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- Almost no hard numbers
- There is no dry weight, hull length, fuel capacity, pump size or impeller pitch anywhere in this source, and displacement and horsepower appear only where Yamaha chose to mention them. Most blank columns below are blanks in Yamaha's page. Corrected on 10 September 2026, this caveat used to say every blank was, and that was not true. The 1995 WaveRaider 1100 carried the figure in its notes and not in its number, so at least one blank was ours. Eight more columns were blanked in the same pass for the opposite reason, because they held numbers this source never printed. This cannot back a spec table on its own and it is not being asked to.
- Eight numbers were removed, and why
- Seven rows in the 1.8 litre family published 1800, and one GP1300R row published 1300. Yamaha's page writes "1.8L" and never 1800, and the only cc it gives for that family is 1812, attached to the naturally aspirated High Output motor and never to the supercharged variants. For the GP1300R it says only that the 1200 was enlarged, and states no result. Both numbers were therefore badges and unit conversions standing in a displacement field, so both are now blank. 1812 was not substituted, because extending a figure from one variant to three others is the same mistake in the other direction.
- The firsts are launch-year marketing
- Every "world's first" and "industry's first" on this page is Yamaha making a claim about Yamaha at the moment of launch. Some of them are almost certainly true and none of them have been checked against a competitor's release dates. They render with Yamaha's name attached for that reason, and no code path on this site prints one as our own assertion.
- The Japanese names are the useful half
- Where Yamaha gives a Marine Jet designation it is recorded, because the JDM code is frequently the only thing tying an export model to a parts diagram. MJ-700TZ is how the first WaveBlaster is catalogued, and the export name is not. Yamaha stopped listing them after the two-stroke era, so the later rows have none.
- Two of these corroborate rows we already had
- This page dates the Marine Jet 700TZ to 1993, agreeing with Yamaha Motor Japan's separate Marine Jet history, which is the document the WaveBlaster model row was already settled against. It also carries the 2027 WaveBlaster, the one row in the model reference with real manufacturer provenance. Neither is new; both are now backed by a second first-party page.
10 claims on this page are Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.'s own, marked as such wherever they appear. Other timelines · Model reference, where fitment lives · Where the sport came from
35 of 42 years · 69 models · 7 gaps