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Japan Motorcycle Production for August 2009

The Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) reported
that the number of motorcycles produced during August 2009 was
recorded as 38,312 units.  This compares to 76,487 units recorded August of
2008, so the 2009 figure is a decrease of 38,175 units
or 49.9%.

Japanese motorcycle manufacturers have now recorded
production decreases on the same month of the previous
year for twenty four consecutive months.

Japanese Motorcycle Production Data for August 2009

Number of Motorcycles Produced

Number of Motorcycle Domestic Sales
Domestic sales (factory shipment) in August 2009 stood at 30,045
units, a decrease of 41.7% as compared with the same month of the
previous year.

Exports stood at 45.9% as compared with the same month
of the previous year.

See Also: 

Japanese
Motorcycle Production for Q1-Q2 (Below)

Q3 U.S. Motorcycle Sales

October 20, 2009 – Our sources tell us that U.S. motorcycle sales
remain dismal, now 3/4 of the way through 2009.  The first 9
months of the year indicate dual-sport sales are down 44%; street
bike sales are down 44%; off-road motorcycle sales down 33%; scooter
sales down a whopping 62% from the big sales rise in 2008 due to
high fuel costs. 

Sum it up and motorcycle sales totaled just 434,370
so far this year, down from 771,950 in the first 9
months of 2008 for a drop of 337,580, which makes
overall sales down 44%.

See Also: 

U.S. Q2 Motorcycle
Sales Report and
U.S. Q1 Motorcycle Sales Report (Both Below)

Worldwide Motorcycle Demand to Increase Through 2013

September 2009 – Worldwide demand for motorcycles will grow at a rate
of approximately 8% per year for the next 5 years. 
This is according to

The Freedonia Group, Inc., a "leading international
industry market research company that provides its
clients with information and analysis needed to make
informed strategic decisions for their businesses.

They recently released a $5,700.00 USD detailed study
with country-by-country data on motorcycle growth. 
Who buys a $5,700 report on this topic is puzzling, but
the press information they released had some interesting
tidbits. 

They say that "normal" motorcycles with
internal combustion engines will still remain the
primary type sold, but electric motorcycle sales will
grow.  Also, motorcycle sales in Africa, the Middle
East and the Asia/Pacific markets will experience the
fastest growth levels.

This makes sense, as motorcycles have traditionally
been a relatively inexpensive form of transportation in
emerging economies for the last 100 years or so.

They also said that electric motorcycles are already
very popular in China, a country which they say will
account for 55 percent of all additional motorcycle
sales worldwide through 2013, but traditional
motorcycles will account for about 95% of sales
elsewhere.  Finally, there are still some
underserved markets that will experience high growth
levels; countries like Nigeria, Philippines and Vietnam.

Japan Motorcycle Production for January – June 2009

The Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) reported
their statistics on the number of motorcycles produced during the
first half of the 2009 calendar year.

360,981 units were reported, compared with 593,384 units recorded for the previous
year during the same time period.  This is a decrease of 232,403 units or 39.2%, and
it represents a production decrease for
three consecutive years.

Number of Motorcycle Domestic Sales
Domestic Japanese sales (factory shipment) for the
first half of the 2009 calendar
yearstood at 205,678 units, a decrease of 22.2 %.

Exports (result) stood at 64.6% as compared with the previous
year.

Q2 U.S. Motorcycle Sales

The numbers aren’t looking good for the first six months of 2009
compared to the same time period in 2008.  Sources tell us that
street bike sales for the first two quarters of the 2009 year so far
totaled 212,130, down 46% from the same time period in 2008. 
Dual sport sales are down 47%; off-road motorcycle sales down 37%
and scooter sales are down a whopping 67% from the first 6 months of
2008.

Meanwhile, some numbers from Japan indicate
motorcycle production in May 2009 was down 28,445 units
or 40.9% of the May 2008 number of 69,626 units
produced.  Motorcycle exports from Japan in May
2009 totaled 33,845 units, down 28,203 units or 45.5% of
May 2008 figure of 62,048 units.

Just for comparison, Japanese automobile exports in
May 2009 were 233,217 units, down 295,400 units or 55.9%
from the May 2008 figure of 528,617 units.

Factoid: BMW
Motorcycle Production in 2008

April 22, 2009 – The BMW Group today reported that 101,964
motorcycles were produced in the Berlin plant in 2008, ranking 8 for total
output of the 24 BMW manufacturing facilities located in 13 countries. 
2,000 BMW associates are employed at the plant (51 motorcycles per employee).

The Husqvarna Motorcycles S.r.l.
manufacturing plant in Cassinetta di Biandronno, Italy
produced 14,232 motorcycles with 268 employees (53 per
employee).

Just for comparison, the #1 ranked plant
for total number of vehicles produced was the BMW Munich
plant, which produces the BMW 3 Series Sedan, Touring
and engines.  That plant has 8,000 employees and
2008 production was 202,992 automobiles and 131,254
engines.

U.S. Q1 2009
Motorcycle Sales

April 21, 2009 – First quarter 2009
motorcycle sales have been bleak in all categories
according to various sources.

Total sales year to date,
from January to March of 2009 were reported as 120,794
compared to 173,922 in Q1 of 2008.  This is a
decrease of 53,128 or almost 32%.

Street bike sales were down
approximately 27%, while dual-sport sales, which had
some strength even in the weak market, were down 24.0%. 
Sales of off-road motorcycles were down 40% and scooter
sales were down 37%.

Here’s a press release from
the Motorcycle Industry Council, dated April 23, 2009:

The economy affected U.S. sales of new motorcycles in
the first quarter of 2009, down a total of 30.5 percent,
compared to the same period last year, among 12 of the
leading brands.

Generally affordable, fuel-efficient dual-purpose
motorcycles declined the least, by 24 percent.  The
off-highway market went down the most, by 39.7 percent,
some of which is linked to the government’s ban on youth
models due to a controversial new law regarding lead
content in consumer products.

"There are still many customers wanting new
motorcycles, both veteran riders and those wanting to
join in the fun and gain the benefits," said Tim Buche,
President of the Motorcycle Industry Council.

"But, in reaction to the economy, there have been
some production cuts.  And the lead ban turned many
parents away from buying new dirt bikes for their kids. 
There’s a need for wholesale financing to help keep
dealerships supplied with inventory, and a need for
consumer credit to loosen up so that dealerships can get
those new bikes out on the roads and on the trails. 
It’s very hard to get retail financing now, even if you
have good credit."

The early year sales decline follows a relatively
flat year for motorcycles.  The MIC’s preliminary
estimate for all motorcycles and scooters sold
nationwide in 2008 is 1,087,000, down just 3.3 percent
compared to 2007.

Sales still topped the one-million mark, and did so
for the sixth straight year.  That beat the longest
run of million-plus sales ever recorded by the MIC,
during the five years from 1970 to 1974.

Also, scooter sales last year reached their highest
annual level ever, currently estimated at 222,000. 
Among the major brands, scooter sales through the first
quarter of 2009 were down 36.7 percent compared to the
first three months of 2008.  The on-highway market
declined by 27.3 percent.

U.S. Motorcycle Sales, 1992 – 2008

January 30, 2009 – I updated our chart showing U.S.
motorcycle sales figures, which now covers 1992 to 2008.  These
are gross numbers, including motorcycles (street bike,
dual-sport and off-road) and scooters.  The numbers
were compiled from various public sources but most of
the sources probably trace back to the Motorcycle Industry
Council, who tracks motorcycle sales in the U.S.A.

Note, however, that if a motorcycle
manufacturer isn’t an MIC member, their sales may not be
reflected in these numbers.  But overall, this is
about as good of an indication as you will find.

Here are the gross sales figures for
2008 and a comparison to 2007:

Japanese Motorcycle Manufacturing Totals for 2008

Motorcycle production in December 2008 was recorded as
112,024 units or -10.6 compared with the total recorded
for the same month of the previous year.  This is a
production decrease on the same month of the previous
year for sixteen consecutive months.

Motorcycle production for calendar year 2008 (January –
December) was recorded as 1,226,839 units, -26.8%
compared with the units total recorded for the previous
year.  This is the third consecutive year of
production decreases over the previous year.

Source: JAMA, January 2009

Selected Worldwide Motorcycle Statistics

Interesting

motorcycle ownership and use graphs and charts
courtesy of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers
Association.