2020 WR250F & WR450F – Prices in Context

A month ago, when Yamaha Motor Australia (YMA) gave us a first tantalising look at their much-updated 2020-model WR250F, it created quite the buzz. Which isn’t surprising. After all, since its arrival back in 2001, the WR250F has remained one of Australia’s most popular enduro models, and it has consistently outsold its rivals in the 250cc enduro bike segment. Plus, just like the much-updated 2019 WR450F, the 2020 WR250F appears to get a greater majority of the updates brought out on Yami’s MX models in the past year or two, along with a raft of enduro-specific mods that aim to position it closer to the hard-nosed enduro weapons coming out of Europe.

What did come as a surprise – initially, at least – was the price announced for Yami’s all-new 2020 WR250F: $13,999, relative to the $12,199 pricetag of its predecessor. Cos that $1800 differential ain’t chump-change in anybody’s language. Similarly, the 2020 WR450 appears to have jumped up $1900 in price (from $13,299 for the 2019 model to $15,199 for the 2020).
But before you go slinging abuse at YMA or your local Yamaha dealer, you need to understand that these year-to-year prices are not comparable. The $12,199 for the 2018 and ’19 WR250F is an ‘RRP’, meaning it only includes GST. The $13,999 for the 2020 model, on the other hand, is a ‘Ride Away’ price, and this includes GST, plus 12 months registration, all statutory costs, freight, and pre-delivery charges.

According to Sean Goldhawk, the Marketing Manager for YMA’s Motorcycle and ATV Division, “Ride Away pricing is different from RRP because it also includes full 12 months registration, and all statutory costs, freight and pre-delivery. So, if you want to compare apples with apples, the RRP of our 2020 WR250F and WR450F models is $12,544 and $13,565, respectively. And these prices are the same as the 2019 models – when you take into account YMA’s 2% across-the-board price rise in July, 2019, anyway.”
But why the change to the way that YMA is quoting their models’ pricing? “Ride Away pricing is a bit complicated, but there are a few reasons we’ve moved to using it instead of the previous RRP convention,” explains Goldhawk. “The main reason is that RRP only tells part of the story, and often leaves customers disappointed because they have to pay more for ‘hidden’ costs. Ride Away pricing allows us to highlight the full cost of buying our motorcycles. This full disclosure also makes it easier for our dealers, who have to represent full Ride Away pricing when advertising bikes for sale, and aren’t left out-of-pocket. Incidentally, for our motocross models – that is, bikes that aren’t registrable – we are now factoring in pre-delivery and freight into their pricing so there are no hidden charges on anything,” Goldhawk went on to say.