A report on the evolution of Chinese motorcycles by David McMullan the Chief Foreign Editor of China Motor Magazine

David McMullan aka the ‘Englishman in China’ has worked with the Chinese motorcycle industry for 9 years as a journalist and marketing consultant. In these years he has seen the highs lows and rebirth of the Chinese industry. He currently resides in the city of Chongqing the unofficial capital of the motorcycling world.

China has recently leapfrogged Japan to become the 2^nd biggest economic power in the world, with no small help from its thriving motorcycle industry. China’s motorcycle factories currently produce just over half of all the motorcycles ridden in the world having manufactured 25 million complete units from January to November 2010 generating a staggering $4.032 billion US dollars in revenue. It is then no surprise that China is the world’s biggest producer of motorcycles with over 400 exporting enterprises (including over 200 factories) employing in excess of 3 million workers; this is no mean feat considering that the total number of exported motorcycles from China in 1980 was a paltry 43000 units.

Chongqing city in China is (according to a recent BBC documentary) the ‘fastest growing city in the world.’ It is as a result of this growth, mainly due to migrant workers providing labour for the production lines, that Chongqing has become one of the global centres of motorcycle production producing an estimated 15% of all two wheeled vehicles ridden in the world. A better known fact is that the Chinese industry mainly caters for the ‘lower’ end of the market, producing lesser quality and cheaper machines.

It could be imagined then that Chinese motorcycle companies have found a winning formula, one that involves low cost labour, materials and limited research and development but this is certainly no longer the case! Not content with producing budget, small engine motorcycles, cubs and scooters for ‘developing nations,’ the industry is now turning its attention to securing a market share in the Western world. Of course Chinese motorcycles have been around for years in developed countries but unfortunately their reputation as ‘low cost, low quality’ products has tarnished them in the eyes of many a would-be motorcycle purchaser. This may all be about to change.

Top Chinese motorcycle factories are now investing vast sums on original research and development and also forming cooperative alliances with many of the world’s ‘big guns.’ In recent years BMW, Honda, Peugeot, Harley Davidson, MV Agusta, Piaggio, Yamaha and Suzuki have all committed to long term collaborations with leading Chinese companies. It is mainly due to this influx of foreign motorcycle culture and expertise that the Chinese industry has begun to rethink its strategy, choosing to concentrate its efforts on improving quality to a standard that would be generally accepted by a western motorcycling public and thus breaking in to the mainstream market. On the style front (Chinese motorcycles may not have been the first choice of the fashion conscious) many top level Chinese factories are now engaging renowned motorcycle designers from Europe.

A typical example of this is the Qingqi motorcycle company, they employ the Milan based Marabese Design company who boast Triumph, Yamaha and Piaggio among their customers. This is a welcome deviation from the all too ‘homogenous’ Japanese copies which have flooded the market in recent years and is representative of the wish of many Chinese motorcycle companies to attempt to discard the negative reputation previously attached to them.

It may come as a surprise to the western rider that many Chinese factories are collaborating with such renowned motorcycle companies as the ones mentioned above, but the simple truth is that left to its own devices the Chinese industry will not progress on to the next level. This next level will see top Chinese motorcycle brands featuring among the more recognisable brands in North American, Australasian and European showrooms and forecourts.

One of the primary considerations of the Chinese industry is to convince western consumers that the days of poor quality Chinese machines (almost considered a ‘throwaway’ product) are over. Top factories now boast of the ‘2^nd wave’ of Chinese motorcycles; products that utilise state of the art technologies imported from countries with a more established motorcycle culture. One of the biggest stumbling blocks of promoting this new improved wave of motorcycles is that up to now Chinese motorcycles have been subject to ‘re-branding’ by foreign dealerships as opposed to promoting the factory name. The top Chinese motorcycle factories have long term plans to make their brands as publicly recognisable as their competitors from Japan, Europe and America. As Kevin Kong an ex-employee of Chinese giant Loncin puts it “if you asked a member of the public in most countries to name a Chinese motorcycle brand they would not be able to name one. They would however be able to name all of the Japanese brands. If you asked a motorcycle enthusiast to name a Chinese brand he or she may be able to name one or two, but that’s only may be able to! We have had a persistent problem with foreign dealers re-branding our products and in the past we have even encouraged it in an effort to increase sales. Those days are over now as Chinese companies look to make their names count in the top North American, Australian and European markets. My ex-company Loncin has been able to run a motorcycle in the 125cc moto GP. Competing against Ducati, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Honda has afforded the company more respect in the motorcycle world. Also the Shineray Company competes at the highest level in Belgian motocross. It is this kind of dedication to furthering technology and marketing that will see Chinese companies break through in western markets. I will always remember attending a marketing meeting in which it was mentioned that in the early 70’s the Honda brand was unknown in the UK and Europe. After a successful run at the Isle of Man TT they gradually gained a place in motorcycle culture as we have seen…the rest is history!”

As brand marketing became the name of the game for the top factories measures were taken to give brands maximum exposure. In recent years anyone attending the major motorcycle exhibitions in the world (Indianapolis, Cologne, and Milan etc) would have noticed a considerable influx of Chinese exhibitors and China itself is not without it own exhibitions. The Canton Fair in Guangzhou is an export exhibition that has its roots in ancient Chinese history. These days it is the largest and most modern export fair in the world and boasts a considerable motorcycle exhibition section; but to really appreciate the growth of the industry it is essential to take in the ‘CIMA’.

Every year the city of Chongqing hosts the CIMA, (China International Motorcycle Trade Exhibition) which is the largest motorcycle exhibition in Asia, and the fastest growing show of its type in the world. The success of CIMA prompted leading Chinese motorcycle publication China Motor Magazine to report- ‘News from the CIMA Organising Committee reports that as well as 90% of Chinese motorcycle factories, many of the world’s most famous motorcycle brands will attend the tenth CIMA exhibition. These companies will include Ducati, BMW, Honda, Suzuki, Harley-Davidson, Kawasaki, Peugeot, Piaggio, Paim, and Benelli. There are also many motorcycle parts and components enterprises coming to exhibit their products from countries with advanced motorcycle technology, including Germany, USA, Spain, the UK, Thailand, and Taiwan of China.

It is expected that over 800 purchasers, with a purchase capacity of over USD 100 million, from more than 20 countries, including USA, Germany, India, the UK, and France, will visit the tenth CIMA, an increase of 60% from the same period last year; the number of visitors is expected to exceed 100,000, up 42.86% from a year earlier.’

I have noticed over the last couple of years that the amount of foreigners visiting CIMA has increased exponentially. As Doug Stabler, a motorcycle dealer from California USA commented “it has become a necessity to keep a check on the Chinese motorcycle industry. Many of us in the industry have noticed a marked improvement in the quality and design of the machines and I now stock many different models of dirt-bike and ATV. They are proving very popular. In previous years the main problem with importing from China was not just the matter of quality. One of the biggest negative factors was the availability of spare parts, or should I say lack of them! I’m pleased to say that in the recent past the Chinese motorcycle industry has redoubled its efforts in improving the ‘supply chain’ and it is no longer a problem to find suitable quality parts either by direct delivery from the factory or online.”

Doug is typical of the foreign dealers/importers that I met at last October’s CIMA. Tristan Benson a motorcycle enthusiast from Cardiff, Wales added “it’s good to see that the Chinese factories are now producing models big enough to keep my fat *rse comfortable. In the past I tried a few Chinese bikes and used to look like a circus bear on a bicycle!”

Tristan’s derrière notwithstanding there has been a concerted effort to design bikes for the more ‘robust’ North Americans, Aussies, Kiwis, Brits and Europeans. Another objection to Chinese motorcycles has been lack of power due to smaller engine sizes. This is also being addressed in China as three of the top ten ‘giants’ of the Chinese motorcycle industry are collaborating to produce three separate models each with a displacement of 650cc (there is also a 600cc inline 4 in the pipeline!), a development that I will keep you up to date with in the future. This is a striking transformation from previous displacement policies, with Chinese factories previously more comfortable producing much smaller engines; a fact that is shown by the most recent China Motor Magazine statistics who reported-

‘According to the statistics of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the top five Chinese motorcycle models (displacement) in exports from January to May of 2011 were 125cc, 150cc, 50cc,110cc and 100cc, with their respective exports of 1.3954 million units, 689,900 units, 504,300 units, 500,300 units, and 446,000 units, up 25.59%, 24.41%, 29.82%, 17.43%, and 15.89% year-on-year respectively. The total number of the above five major motorcycle models (displacements) exports from January to May was 3.5359 million units, taking up 91% of the total motorcycle exports in China.’

For me the surprising statistic is that 9% of the motorcycle companies have chosen to research develop and market motorcycles with a displacement of over 150cc! The same statistics reviewed 5 years ago would have revealed that 98% of Chinese made motorcycles had a displacement of 125cc or under; a clear indication of the changing production trends.

All this, of course, is a far cry from Chinese motorcycles being commonplace in showrooms and on motorways, but as more attention (as well as money) is being paid to how best to please the western motorcycling public and to tempt them in to a dalliance with a Chinese machine we may yet be witnessing the beginnings of a motorcycling revolution, the likes of which has now been seen since the Japanese burst on to the scene in the 1970’s.