EICMA set for success with Italian market +32.07% YTD
As the international motorcycle industry continues to deal with the logistics, cost inflation and supply chain issues that are holding it back, 'Now More Than Ever' it is vital that every opportunity to 'Build Back Better' is exploited.
With EICMA now confirmed as the first of Europe's 'major' trade fairs to emerge from the impacts of the pandemic, it will be seen as an important metric with which the health of the industry will be calibrated - a lens through which the international market will view the months and years ahead.
As the show approaches, the good news is that with a small number of exceptions, most of the major motorcycle manufacturers will be represented on the show floor when EICMA opens to the Italian public on November 25th.
As this edition of International Dealer News went to press in early October, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Piaggio (Vespa, Moto Guzzi, Aprilia etc.), Triumph, MV Agusta, Fantic Motor, Benelli and a slew of manufacturers and brands from outside Europe have been confirmed as exhibitors.
Those include Royal Enfield, Kymco and SYM, but confidentially IDN has learned that agreed contracts with at least five other important OEM exhibitors are simply awaiting signature and that anything up to 15 other notable internal combustion and electric vehicle brands are expected to confirm their attendance.
The caution among the OEM community is understandable and is mirrored among the parts and accessory, gear and apparel aftermarket exhibitor community in Italy, but especially those international exhibitors who would normally use EICMA as their annual sales and marketing 'loadstone'.
As a result of that caution the show will undoubtedly be smaller in footprint than the last time it was staged in November 2019.
However, with five halls still in use and some six weeks to go at the time of writing, it does look like there will be a 'critical mass' of industry participation - in domestic Italian and international terms.
With demand for two-wheel urban mobility and leisure machines at its strongest since the 2007/2009 financial crisis, and the Italian motorcycle market in particular seeing demand explode, as one international vendor who is still exhibiting put it to IDN "there will still be plenty enough business opportunities to keep any visitor busy".
When the pandemic first collapsed motorcycle sales in March, April and May 2020, there was much talk about nothing ever being the same again. The BMW and KTM decisions that they would no longer be exhibiting at the corporate level sent shockwaves through the international exhibitor community at the time, but in the Italian context especially, those decisions now look flawed.
