Production of Japanese bikes up, exports down in May
Production of motorcycles by the Big Four was up 12.9 percent, while exports were down 7.7 percent in May, according to the Japanese Automobile Manufacturer’s Association.
As has been the case each month this year, Kawasaki saw the largest percentage increase, as production rose 40.9 percent to 6,073 units. Yamaha also reported a sizable percentage increase, up 29.3 percent to 14,257 motorcycles, while Honda’s production rose 2.8 percent to 9,390 bikes. Suzuki was the only JAMA motorcycle OEM to report a production decrease, down 3.7 percent to 11,115 units. In total, the Big Four produced 40,844 motorcycles in May.
Production in three of the four motorcycle classes was up for the month, with 50cc or under bikes seeing the largest percentage increase, up 55.8 percent to 6,749 units. The 126-250cc class saw a 36.1 percent increase to 8,692 bikes, while the 51-125cc class experienced 22.8 percent growth to 1,928 units. Production in the over 250cc category dropped 1.8 percent to 23,475 units.
Motorcycle exports out of Japan were down in May, with 24,776 bikes exported, a decrease of 7.7 percent from May 2013. Suzuki led the export decrease, dropping 46.1 percent to 5,057 units. The other three OEMs each reported increases in exports, with Honda up 1.0 percent to 4,339 units, Yamaha up 9.3 percent to 10,717 exports, and Kawasaki up 38.7 percent to 4,663 bikes exported.
The total value of bikes exported in May was $224.4 million, including $150.5 million for vehicles and $73.8 million for parts. The value of the exported bikes was down 17.3 percent when compared to May 2013.
I am from turkey. Its been 2 years yamaha has canceled the distributorship in turkey and they are trying to sell their products in the market. But they cannot. Because turks use to sell bikes with a minimum profit but now japanese people couldnt understand the market so they still want to sell the products on 10-20% profit line. A bike used to have a price lets say 5000$ became 6000-6500$ so now everone buys the taiwanese sym or kymco with 3000-3500$ range. It was logical paying for a bike 1000$ difference to get more quality but now its nearly double price.