Panel: Motorcycle industry in deep trouble
A group of two dozen concerned motorcycle veterans has published a comprehensive research document that addresses the question, “Can this industry be saved?”
Maybe, it concluded, but it’s not going to be easy.
Former Indian Motorcycle executive Robert Pandya formed the Give A Shift group this fall, hoping to find a consensus of opinion among his friends and colleagues.
He began with a written survey, which included 300 participants, and proceeded to a twohour roundtable discussion in Long Beach last month, with 25 of the most ardent influencers.
Their comments, made anonymously for fear of offending employers and business associates, paint a dire picture.
Sales are flat or falling in almost every area.
Baby boomer buyers, the most consistent motorcycle consumers, are aging out of the industry fast.
The industry has failed to increase sales by making new riders out of women, minorities and millennials.
The old dealership model is broken and needs a makeover.
The arrival of autonomous vehicles may push motorcycles off the road entirely.
“The message is, ‘We are in trouble, and there is no silver bullet,’” Pandya said.
Among the key findings in the report, which can be read in its entirety here:
The motorcycle industry does not need better products, but its marketing and advertising methods are failing to attract new riders in part because they are too focused on selling bigger, faster, more expensive machines to veteran riders.
“There has never been a more compelling and interesting time in motorcycling,” the report said. “It’s clear ... that the bigger issue is lack of general interest in riding.”
The industry also has failed to appreciate the importance of the female rider, losing sight of the concept that mothers who ride tend to produce children who ride. Instead, manufacturers focus too tightly on the more typical male consumer and, when it comes to women, rely on the careworn “shrink it and pink it” approach to apparel and gear manufacturing.
“There is clearly a path to attract female ridership that does not come from traditional motorcycle marketing and must be explored,” the report said. “The increase in female ridership will have a huge influence on young riders’ access to motorcycling.”
The panel faulted motorcycle dealerships for being outmoded and unimaginative, and for employing sales personnel primarily interested in selling top-of-the-line products to wellheeled buyers while ignoring the entry-level beginner.
“Dealers still often do not know how to sell to women, couples, families and non-traditional customers,” the report concluded. “Being enchanted by motorcycling can quickly be dulled by a poor, confusing or dismissive dealership experience.
Even more worrying, Pandya’s report said, is the approaching widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles, whose prevalence on public roads may leave no safe space for motorcycling.
“There is a very real risk of motorcycling being completely cut out of the conversation for future vehicle infrastructure systems,” the panel concluded. “The single biggest threat to motorcycling overall ... will be the incompatibility between autonomous vehicles and existing motorcycles.”
Though the panel’s conclusions were bleak, its members did have ideas for slowing the erosion in sales and enthusiasm.
The paper called on the power sports industry collectively and riders individually to selfcorrect, self-police and work together to improve motorcycling’s image.
Manufacturers must “promote motorcycling as an activity for everyone,” “tell a compelling story about the benefits and joys of motorcycling” and “affect acceptance of the positive aspects of motorcycling.”
Riders, in turn, must be better ambassadors for the sport they love and better at sharing the message.