Popularity of minicars hurts motorcycle sales in Japan
THE JAPANESE motorcycle market has been stuck in the slow lane. Reasonably priced minicars and electrically assisted pedal cycles (pedelecs) have become increasingly popular, hurting sales of mopeds, which were once a familiar mode of transport for many people.
Major manufacturers plan to devote more resources to developing mid-size and large motorbikes that offer bigger margins, but there are also concerns this could accelerate the shift of younger people away from such vehicles.
Manufacturers are caught between a rock and a hard place.
“The moped market is particularly tough,” Yamaha Motor Co. President Hiroyuki Yanagi said at a joint press conference in Tokyo on Saturday. Executives from four major motorbike manufacturers - Yamaha, Honda Motor Co., Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. and Suzuki Motor Corp. called for the press conference on this year’s “motorcycle day,” a pun using the Japanese readings for the numbers representing Aug 19.
According to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), 338,000 motorcycles were sold in Japan in 2016, barely one-tenth the 3.285 million units sold at the industry’s peak in 1982.
In recent years, sales of mopeds with an engine displacement of 50cc or smaller, which previously accounted for about half of all motorbike sales, have been notably sluggish.
“The spread of minicars and pedelecs has given consumers more options, which has cut into sales of mopeds,” a source at a major motorcycle maker said.
Pedelecs are mostly priced from about 100,000 yen to 150,000 yen (about RM3,917 to RM5,878). These two-wheelers are relatively cheap compared with mopeds, which tend to range from 150,000 yen to more than 200,000 yen, and users do not need a driver’s licence or have to buy petrol.
Sales of pedelecs eclipsed purchases of motorcycles in 2011, and in 2016 their sales had climbed to 540,000 units - 1.6 times the number of motorcycles sold that year.
Suzuki’s management plan to incorporate a greater concentration on the development of mid-size and large products. Kawasaki Heavy wants to popularise its brand, which has been specialising in mid-size and large motorcycles.
However, some observers fear that shifting to a focus on midsize and larger motorcycles that tend to be priced from about 500,000 yen to 600,000 yen could make young people, who have little money to spare for such large purchases, turn away from motorbikes.—
The spread of minicars and pedelecs has given consumers more options, which has cut into sales of mopeds. — A source at a major motorcycle maker