Manufacturer Lobbying

[chinabiker]

Not something new, but another sign that overseas manufacturers see a huge market in China. Let's hope that all the efforts will some day soon lead to success.

... On Feb. 9, two top-ranking Chinese diplomats—Zhou Wenzhong, the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the U.S., and Huang Ping, Consul General of the People's Republic of China —scheduled time during their brief visit to Milwaukee to speak with Company leaders and explore the Harley-Davidson Museum®. They were accompanied by their wives and other members of the Washington D.C. embassy and Chicago consulate diplomatic staff. ...

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Andy

[ZMC888]

I hope they listen

I'm not a Harley fanatic, but let's hope that they are leading the way, and all riders can benefit from this.

[chinabiker]

I know the Germans do that too but not as open as HD does

As long as somebody is doing something about making conditions better, it's fine

Andy

[ZMC888]

We have high-end bikes such as Harleys and BMW's, which is good, and lots of small capacity bikes, which is good too.

It would be nice to have the opportunity to have something middle sized and middle cost, but also trustworthy, such as this wouldn't it?

In Shandong they'd need to price the bike license/registration/insurance between 1000-1500 RMB to actually persuade any Chinese riders here to realistically think about registering one, if they were available...



CBF 500

[CrazyCarl]

Andy,

That is some good news and I hope it goes well. It's clear that HD and BMW are pretty much the only two companies spending any resources trying to develop the Chinese bike market. They must obviously have some research that other people don't.

The Japanese don't even try to develop the market and it's no mystery why they don't. Both companies must be in for the long haul though because there's a definite cultural stigma in China against motorcycles in general and we see this any time we try to enter a gaosu gonglu. That will be the hardest problem for them to overcome. Without support from the highest levels of government I fear it may simply result in another face project to encourage investment but not socially develop the market.

I hope it works out! I give mad credit to these guys for even trying!

Any predictions Andy? ZMC?

CC

[ZMC888]

Predictions?

Well culturally Hong Kong and T_a_i_w_a_n province () have for many years been avid motorcycle riders, so I don't see why this couldn't happen in China too, lots of the younger crew seem to be quite keen! When the guys that are mostly in their 20's or younger now all have cars and are stuck in traffic in the future, I hope that there is a big return to bikes.

The country needs some way for people to be able to get on two wheels of a reasonable size for a reasonable price, also for people from other countries to come here and be able to legally ride to create some growth in the market. There also needs to be a recognition from the govt that bikes are not responsible for much gridlock or pollution. Most short-distance commuter bikers in my area have switched to electric bikes anyway, so there is no need to jump on motorcycles as a problem, as electric bikes are far cheaper and do almost the same thing in a city center for the majority of commuters. So the motorcycle market will end up smaller but more recreational naturally.

There's loads of mid-90's unregistered Honda CB400's around, it would be nice to see more of these kind of bikes around in the future. To me the ideal kind of bike for China is a road bike such as a 250cc or 400cc 4 cylinder bike, not a guy with inadequate training on an R1 missile or someone with only experience of small bikes trying to manhandle a Harley around a rural factory worker riding an electric bike down the wrong side of the road!

I think the future of riding in China will be a multi-tiered view...

1. Wealthy fat-cat riders who all have cars, and ride big fat bikes on sunny days in big groups.
2. People that ride big fat bikes but can't afford to register them.
3. People with domestically made moderate sized bikes (150-600cc singles)
4. Kids with unregistered dirt bikes.
5. Commuter guys who wouldn't care if they had an electric bike under them instead.
6. Various farmers.

The Japanese don't even try to develop the market and it's no mystery why they don't.

That's unfair, Yamaha have been putting money in recently. Also Honda is a major kudos brand in China, who if they actually tried to, they could have a big impact on the market. It is probably because they have seen it all before...China lurching between legal status and illegal status, you'd need a PHD in political science or sociology to keep up with where you should target your bike sales...Probably the memo from Honda head office says 'waste of time too much of a headache, concentrate on selling them the small stuff'. If Harley, BMW and other are put through this same kind of nonsense, they will go the same way too, and concentrate on other markets.

[chinabiker]

Andy,

That is some good news and I hope it goes well. It's clear that HD and BMW are pretty much the only two companies spending any resources trying to develop the Chinese bike market. They must obviously have some research that other people don't.

The Japanese don't even try to develop the market and it's no mystery why they don't. Both companies must be in for the long haul though because there's a definite cultural stigma in China against motorcycles in general and we see this any time we try to enter a gaosu gonglu. That will be the hardest problem for them to overcome. Without support from the highest levels of government I fear it may simply result in another face project to encourage investment but not socially develop the market.

I hope it works out! I give mad credit to these guys for even trying!

Any predictions Andy? ZMC?

CC

HD and BMW are the most aggressive, or better most visible, combatants but the Japanese and Italians are certainly also present.
I don't see a general refusal of Japanese products in China. Look at all the big Jap brands Sony, Canon, Nikon, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, high speed trains, supermarket chains, .. - the Japanese are big cash spenders in China.

Whenever a certain person pays a visit to a certain shrine or an Oil company does some test drilling in disputed areas, there is a usually short-lived call for boycott.

Japanese enterprises were surely the first to be highly active in the Chinese motorcycle market and I don't see any reason why they wouldn't make use of the experience they have gathered over the years.

From rumors I heard and lines I read between, I assume that there will be a change in motorcycle policy. The "when" is the difficult thing to predict. All manufacturers have the same problem, the bike policy. As soon as this changes, I am sure the one or the other is going to set up an assembly plant in China.

My guess:
They establish classes of motorcycles, along with different licenses and different restrictions.
< 50 cc - local driving restrictions (city centers)
50 - 200 (250) cc local driving restrictions (city centers, maybe allowed on freeways) minimum age
> 250 cc - cat mandatory, no driving restrictions, minimum age

Let's wait and see

Andy