Japanese made motorcycle exports to Europe
The latest data available from JAMA (the automotive trade association in Japan, which includes representation of motorcycle manufacturers among its membership) shows exports of Japanese made motorcycles to Europe (over 250 cc) for the first four months of the year recovering after a no doubt Euro 4/5 shaped poor start to 2021 to be +10.47% at 78,914 units.
Japanese made motorcycle exports to USA were +57.55% YTD at 24,108 units. Globally the Japanese factories were +17.21% in motorcycle export terms at 126,584 units.
In total PTW terms, shipments to Europe were +12.58% at 82,130 units, shipments to USA were +62.10% at 37,783 units, and globally +22.20% at 154,012 units were exported in total.
The increasing number of units being made by Japanese manufacturers elsewhere in Asia, the U.S. and South/Central America goes some way to providing historical context for the data. Most of the Japanese made machines coming into Europe are of higher value, larger displacements.
Most of their overseas factories are primarily engaged in making and selling scooters and smaller capacity units in and for 'emerging' markets (where import tariffs are high) and in making ATV/UTV units - especially in the United States, where demand for such machines is at its highest and grew strongly in 2020.
For the record - annual worldwide Japanese made motorcycle and moped exports (all PTW) fell off a cliff in 2009 to 583,879 from over 1 million in 2008, having peaked at 1,641 million units in 2000. They have continued to decline most years since then. Most recently they were 463,123 units in 2017, 456,758 in 2018, 386,379 in 2019 and 311,998 in 2020.
