Change in the motorcycle market: China is moving towards the motorcycle paradise of Switzerland

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After a very good motorcycle year in 2023 with around 49,000 new registrations, more than half a million motorcycles and 300,000 scooters are registered in Switzerland. According to the Swiss Motorcycle and Scooter Agency (SFMR), 700 specialized companies and their suppliers generate sales of over one billion francs a year. For more than half a century, Japanese cloverleaf (Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha) has dominated the European motorcycle market. The rest of the pie has so far been shared between Italy (Aprilia, Ducati, Moto Guzzi, Vespa), Germany (BMW), UK (Triumph), Austria (KTM) and the USA (Harley-Davidson, India).

But it’s over. Registration statistics include brands such as Benelli, Brixton, CFMoto, Colove, Fantic Motors, FB Mondial, KL Motors, Kove, Kumpan, Luxxon, Malaguti, Mash, Motron, Niu, Ray, Silence, Sky Team, SuperSoco, Surron. SWM, Sym Sanyang, Vengo, Voge, Wottan and Zontes continue to advance and all come from China. Thanks to free trade agreements, these manufacturers can easily bring their products to Switzerland. Customs duties are not collected from each other.

China is the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer

You should not be fooled by the names, some of which sound European. This is driven by corporate takeovers, joint ventures and majority investments. Chinese motorcycles are partly developed and shaped in Europe, but they are produced in China in huge industrial centers such as Chongqing, Zhejiang and Guangdong. Each year, approximately 200 manufacturers produce more than 20 million motorcycles and scooters and sell them under hundreds of different brands. Even experts have difficulty keeping an overview and classifying the new brands that appear almost daily. Only the Indian market can compete with slightly lower but similar figures. For comparison: the European two-wheeler market consists of approximately one million vehicles per year across all categories.

China is filling the lucrative scooter and 125cc entry-level markets with particularly cheap and increasingly high-quality products. They are very active when it comes to electric scooters used in urban areas (one in five new vehicles in this segment is now an electric scooter). And unlike traditional manufacturers, they place little or no demand on retailers’ infrastructure and corporate identity. They supply everyone, more or less without exception, from small businesses to the wholesaler Landi (Vengo).

The Chinese invasion is (still) manageable with big motorcycles. In copying, the world champions realized early on that they stood no chance with their blatant, technically inadequate 1:1 plagiarism among the demanding motorcycle crowd in Europe. So they entered into lucrative collaborations with traditional producers around the world, who considered low labor and production costs, as well as the almost inexhaustible potential of labor and materials, to be more important than democracy and human rights.

Collaborations: Everyone participates

BMW has been affiliated with the Loncin Group for years and, among other things, has been producing large 400cc scooters as well as the inline two-cylinder F series here since 2018. Austrian sports manufacturer KTM started working with quad specialist CFMoto in 2009 – the Chinese currently produce a range of inline two-cylinder engines for KTM in Hangzhou. You can even install them on your own vehicles, which are now also sold in Europe (via the KTM network). The Quangjiang Group, which took over Benelli in 2005 and left development solely in Pesaro (I), is also affiliated with the pride of all America, Harley-Davidson, and has a simply built 350 there for the Asian wholesale market. Shineray Group opened the door for Mash and SWM, Zongshen cooperates with scooter giant Piaggio (Vespa, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi). The list can be continued almost endlessly. But all these marriages of convenience have one thing in common: By decree, the Chinese partner holds at least 51 percent of the shares of bilateral companies in his country.

Conclusion: Someone who disdains the phrase “Made in China” in principle is unlikely to buy a new motorcycle or scooter today that does not have parts made in China. Just like with a laptop, mobile phone, TV, digital camera or car.

Source: Blick