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.
| 1972 | 1973 | |
|---|---|---|
| Came out | October 1972 | |
| Sold as | 1973 model year |
| 1986 | 1987 | |
|---|---|---|
| Came out | November 1986 | |
| First Yamaha row in the model reference | WaveRunner (WR500), 1987 |
In both records the second year falls one year after the first, so two sources that count the same machine differently can disagree by exactly that much.
How we know: The dated milestones on Where the sport came from, and the model reference's own rows.
Where this comes from
History of WaveRunners (PWC), Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. Read once, on 9 September 2026. 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 record at all, and 1 more has a record but no model
- 1980s
- 1986, models listed
- 1987, models listed
- 1988, no record at all
- 1989, no record at all
- 1990s
- 2000s
- 2010s
- 2010, models listed
- 2011, models listed
- 2012, models listed
- 2013, no record at all
- 2014, models listed
- 2015, an entry but no model
- 2016, models listed
- 2017, models listed
- 2018, no record at all
- 2019, models listed
- 2020s
- 2020, no record at all
- 2021, models listed
- 2022, models listed
- 2023, no record at all
- 2024, models listed
- 2025, models listed
- 2026, models listed
- 2027, models listed
- 34 years with models listed
- 1 year with an entry but no model
- 7 years with no record at all
The whole span in rows of ten years. The dashed squares are years this publication never mentions; every other square links to its year further down.
How we know: This timeline's own entries, and the years it declares it holds nothing for.
The 7 years with no record, as a list
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
51 of the 69 Yamaha model entries below link to that machine's page in the model reference; the other 18 are plain text, because the reference holds no single machine under that name for that year. They carry 55 different names, because some names are listed in more than one 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: reverse drive, also a first
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Yamaha's entry into the stand-up category.
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1992
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WaveRunner VXR650 · 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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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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Printed only as "the WaveRaider was also upgraded with a 1100cc engine"; the name is ours.
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1996
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SuperJet 700
Printed only as "The SuperJet was also upgraded with a 700cc engine"; the name is ours.
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WaveVenture 1100 · Marine Jet 1100VN in Japan
Printed only as MJ-1100VN in an essay caption; the export name follows the 1995 WaveVenture 700 / Marine Jet 700VN pairing.
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1997
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The page calls it the most powerful engine in the industry at launch, with a compact, agile body.
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1998
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Pushed PWC into touring, towsports and family riding.
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1999
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Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: world's first 4-passenger PWC
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The page gives it the industry's highest horsepower at the time.
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2000
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New hull and body; the muscle-craft benchmark.
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2001
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Redesigned XL1200 Ltd. with new front end.
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2002
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Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: world's first 4-stroke PWC
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: world's first low-emission PWC with a 4-stroke engine (May 2002)
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2003
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Displacement of the 1200cc engine raised, plus fuel injection and a high-performance catalytic converter.
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FX140 variant with hip-support seats.
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2004
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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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Successor to XL700 for rental fleets; 700cc 2-stroke on the VX hull.
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2007
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New "Cruiser Seat" on the VX hull.
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2008
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NanoXcel hull 25% lighter than earlier sheet moulding compound (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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Light smooth-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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VX Series renewal - new deck, black hull, class-leading fuel efficiency claim.
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2011
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Claimed lightest body of any runabout at the time.
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2012
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WaveRunner FX Cruiser HO
All-new longer NanoXcel hull; mechanical neutral; Theater-Style Cruiser Seat.
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The page calls it the industry's only remaining 2-stroke runabout at the time.
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2014
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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
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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Closed-course racing focus; billed as quickest and fastest Yamaha PWC to that point.
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2019
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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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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
Four-stroke, replacing a two-stroke predecessor. L-MODE limits output to 85% (approximately 40 mph). Three-position adjustable handle pole extending up to 50mm.
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VX Series all-new; 4.3-inch Connext helm control with touchpad.
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New deck, tilt-adjustable handlebars, 4.3-inch Connext, new hull liner and CoG, new intake grate and jet pump.
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: industry's first Auto Trim function with Cornering Control and Launch Control modes
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2022
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Raised lightweight handlebars, stern foot chocks, custom-tuned electric trim.
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WaveRunner FX Cruiser HO
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FX series gains 7" or 5" glass touchscreen infotainment, factory audio, Drive Control with Auto Trim.
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2024
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.
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: the most compact sit-down WaveRunners
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. claims: the first WaveRunner with a reinforced polypropylene deck instead of fiberglass
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2026
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Introduced as the 40th anniversary model. Gold YAMAHA side emblem and gold "WAVERUNNER 40th" visor emblem.
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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 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; a few are this record's own, where a number it once carried turned out to come from a category or a note rather than from Yamaha, and the changes at the foot say which. This cannot back a spec table on its own and it is not being asked to.
- Nine numbers were removed, and why
- Seven rows in the 1.8 litre family published 1800, one GP1300R row published 1300 and the 1997 GP1200 row published 1200. Yamaha's page writes "1.8L" and never 1800; the only cc it gives for that family is 1812, attached to the naturally aspirated High Output motor and never to the supercharged variants; and 1200cc is printed once, in the 2003 entry, for the engine the GP1300R enlarged. Those numbers were badges and unit conversions standing in a displacement field, so they are blank. 1812 was not substituted, because extending a figure from one variant to three others is the same mistake in the other direction. One figure is kept on the same reasoning and disclosed here. 1898 is printed once, on the 2024 engine entry; it is carried onto the four HO models listed under it because Yamaha says that engine replaced the motor powering the HO models, and the model entries themselves print nothing.
- 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 Japanese domestic market (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 prints its last Marine Jet code for the 1995 WaveVenture 700, with one more, MJ-1100VN, in an essay caption for 1996; every later row has none, including the two-stroke rows that run to 2012. The FX1 carries no Marine Jet code on this page; Yamaha Motor Japan's product history lists MJ-700SJ/FX/TL under 1994, and the model reference holds that join.
- 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, which the model reference verifies separately against Yamaha Motor Canada's own model page. Neither is new; both are now backed by a second first-party page.
- Stroke is deduced on every row before 2002
- Stroke is printed on no row before 2002. Two-stroke on every earlier row, and on the 2008 SuperJet, is deduced from Yamaha's 2002 claim that the FX140 was the world's first four-stroke PWC and from the 2021 SuperJet's "two-stroke predecessor".
- Where the model reference disagrees, unresolved
- The 2005 VX Sport and VX Deluxe here against VX110 and VX110 Deluxe in the model reference, the 2024 FX HO at 1812 there against this page's 1898, and the 2025 JetBlaster trims (JetBlaster, DLX and PRO here; 2-UP, LTD and PRO 3-UP there) are naming and figure splits the model reference does not yet explain. This page also carries an FX Cruiser HO in 2012 and in 2022, years the model reference holds no row for at all, which is a gap rather than the one-year offset described above. Neither side has been changed to match the other.
13 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
The same company told as prose, from its own documents: The 30hp problem that shaped the first hull; Marine Jet, Yamaha's name for the same ski; Yamaha on its own machines, 2003 to 2009.
Changes to this timeline
- 2026-10-01: The FX1's Marine Jet 700FX code was blanked again, because this record restates one Yamaha page and that page prints no code for the FX1; the join is held in the model reference.
- 2026-10-01: The 1997 GP1200's 1200cc was blanked, since the page prints 1200cc once, in its 2003 entry for the engine the GP1300R enlarged, and the caveat on removed numbers now counts nine.
- 2026-10-01: The seat counts on the 1990 SuperJet 650 and the 1993 WaveBlaster 700 were blanked, because the page prints no rider count and the 1 had come from the category.
- 2026-10-01: The 1992 VXR650 and the 2026 FX Limited SVHO are listed under the names the page heads them with, having been listed as WaveRunner VXR 650 and FX Limited SVHO (40th Anniversary).
- 2026-10-01: The WaveRaider 1100, SuperJet 700 and WaveVenture 1100 rows now say the page prints them only as upgraded-with sentences or, for the last, as a Marine Jet code in an essay caption, so those names are this record's.
- 2026-10-01: Three firsts were moved into Yamaha's attributed list or reworded in Yamaha's terms, the 1990 reverse drive, the May 2002 low-emission four-stroke and the Auto Trim function, and the 2021 SuperJet's note no longer calls it the first four-stroke SuperJet, a first the page does not claim.
- 2026-10-01: The 2012 FX Cruiser HO's NanoXcel hull and the 2022 FX Cruiser HO's and FX HO's natural aspiration were filled from the page's body copy, and the 1898cc carried onto the four 2024 HO rows from the engine entry is kept and disclosed in the caveat.
- 2026-10-01: Two caveats were added, one saying stroke is deduced on every row before 2002 from Yamaha's own four-stroke claims and one listing where the model reference disagrees with this page.
- 2026-10-01: Three stale caveat figures were corrected, so the 700 and 701 figures sit sixteen years apart rather than twenty, the Marine Jet codes stop with the 1995 WaveVenture 700 and a 1996 caption rather than with the two-stroke era, and the 2027 WaveBlaster is verified against Yamaha Motor Canada's page rather than being the model reference's one row with manufacturer provenance.
- 2026-09-18: The 1994 FX1 was given the Marine Jet 700FX code from Yamaha Motor Japan's product history, which lists MJ-700SJ/FX/TL under 1994.
- 2026-09-10: Eight displacement figures the page never prints were blanked, 1800 on seven rows of the 1.8 litre family and 1300 on the GP1300R, the 1995 WaveRaider 1100 gained the 1100cc its own note already carried, and the scope note now says where this page's 700, 760 and 1200 differ from the model reference's 701, 753 and 1131.
- 2026-09-10: The caveat on hard numbers no longer says every blank column is Yamaha's, because at least one blank was this record's own and eight figures it carried were not Yamaha's either.
models in 34 of 42 years · 69 model entries · 8 years with none