The latest data released by the motorcycle industry trade association in Japan (JAMA) shows exports of 250cc plus machines to Europe by Japanese motorcycle manufacturers at 8,688 units - the highest since May 2012, but down massively from the 33,000 units exported to European dealers before the downturn in 2007.
The good news is that, statistically speaking, that puts May exports to Europe at +17.8 percent, compared to -7.98 percent in April, and by far the best up-swing of the year so far.
For the year-to-date Japanese exports are +1.7 percent at 75,819 units - their best first five months performance since 2012, but a shadow of the 2007 pre-recessionary levels of over 232,000 for the first five months of the year.
In total PTW terms May was +12.7 percent for the Japanese manufacturers (9,566 units) and they are +3.1 percent for the year-to-date (80,488 units).
However, exports of 250cc+ motorcycles from Japan to the United States continue to be in melt-down. In May the "Big Four" could only manage 3,110 units between them, -47.9 percent, the lowest May number for decades. May 2006 saw them export nearly 29,000 units to USA.
For the year-to-date the Japanese manufacturers are off by -30.6 percent for 250cc plus exports to USA at just 37,330 units for the first five months - the lowest since May 2010 and it compares to 182,811 units exported to the USA in the first five months of 2006.
A lot more Japanese brand motorcycles and small cc machines are now coming into Europe and the USA from subsidiary and affiliate factories elsewhere in the world, but the data still makes alarming reading as the historically market-defining "Big Four" look increasingly like a "Big Two plus a few other models", as European and American manufacturers take ever increasing shares of a much smaller market in Europe and North America.
