Yamaha - European unit sales +17.2% for first half year
Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. announced its consolidated business results for the first half of fiscal 2021 with total all-divisions net sales for the first half of the year (January to June) of 920.1bn yen (an increase of 234.6bn yen or 34.2% compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year), with operating income 109.2bn yen (an increase of 90.1bn yen or 471.9%).
In its motorcycle and related vehicle division (its Land Mobility Business), total global unit volume was 2.312 million units for the first half of 2021, compared to 1.709 million for H1 2020 and 2.516 million for H1 2019. European unit sales were 116,000 for the first half year (+17.2%) compared to 99,999 for the year ago; and, more interestingly, +6,4% compared to the 109,000 units sold in Europe for the first half of 2019.
North American unit sales for H1 were 34,000; domestic Japanese sales were 51,000 units; 1.845 million were to Asian markets and 265,000 elsewhere. In all cases, unit sales were higher than the first half of 2020 and in all except Asia up on the first half of 2019 also.
Land Mobility Business segment net sales were 595.9bn yen (an increase of 166.9bn yen or 38.9% compared with the same period of the previous fiscal year) with operating income generated of 44.8bn yen (compared to an operating loss of 6.7bn yen in the same period of the previous fiscal year).
Yamaha said that motorcycle sales in developed markets were affected by supply issues due to a shortage of shipping containers, but that unit sales increased thanks to a recovery in demand in Europe and the effects of launching new products.
In North America, the boom in outdoor and family recreation demand has continued from last year and strong sales of off-road models brought higher unit sales. As a result, both sales and profits increased overall.
Unit sales of motorcycles in emerging markets exceeded figures from last year in all regions, resulting in higher sales and profits. In addition, higher sales of premium segment models helped improve the model mix and sales and profits surpassed its 2019 figures, despite the Indonesian market still not being fully recovered yet.
Strong demand continued for recreational vehicles (all-terrain vehicles, recreational off-highway vehicles and snowmobiles). While production delays remain due to parts shortages and other issues, sales and profits increased thanks to higher unit sales.
As for electrically power-assisted bicycles, the trend to avoid using public transportation led to greater recognition of the merits of bicycles, resulting in continued healthy sales of complete Yamaha brand bicycles in Japan and E-kits for Europe, resulting in higher sales and income.
