Organiser AMC Promotions has closed what used to be known as the Salon de la Moto, Scooter, Quad et Équipement (the ‘Paris Show’ – itself formerly known as Mondial du Deux Roues) and folded it in with the Mondial De L’Auto and Mondial De La Mobilité as the Mondial De La Moto – at the Porte de Versailles expo facility adjacent to the Paris ring road (Périphérique) from 4–14 October 2018 – a clash with the dates for INTERMOT at Cologne.
In response to an anti-theft campaign supported by the MCIA in the UK, Honda UK has partnered with British security specialist Datatool to become the first manufacturer to provide free motorcycle trackers. Tracking equipment will be offered free-of-charge to riders of every single on-road Honda motorcycle on purchases from Monday 2nd July 2018.
The free trade deal signed between the EU and Japan is outstandingly good news for the EU motorcycle industry. The 6% import tariff on Japanese made units will, eventually, go away. Less good news for the UK though. Once outside the EU, British bikers will still be paying the tariff. Worse, one of the primary incentives for Japanese auto makers (Honda, Nissan and Toyota) to produce in the UK will also have disappeared.
Q1 Kawasaki results (period ended June 30) show sales in its motorcycle and engine division at 73.9bn yen (+8.8%) for a marginally reduced operating loss of -3.3bn yen. The company says that the modest growth that they saw in motorcycle markets, mainly in Europe, is continuing with the decline in demand seen in emerging markets bottoming out.
Parts Europe is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the legendary Thor MX apparel brand. Founded in Sweden by Torsten Hallman, a former professional motocross racer (four-time MX World Champion) and then Husqvarna dealer, Hallman is widely credited as being one of the pioneers who introduced MX into the United States in the late 1960s. He started what became THOR Motocross (Torsten Hallman Original Racewear) by selling pants and gloves from the trunk of his car at MX races.
AJP, the Portuguese enduro and off-road motorcycle manufacturer has appointed Torque Racing as its UK importer.
Millions of jobs are likely to be displaced by automation, but a report from the World Economic Forum (in Switzerland) has suggested that while robots will displace 75 million jobs globally by 2022, their impact on production and commerce will create 133 million new, alternate jobs - a "net positive". The think tank says that advances in computing would free up workers for new tasks.
