Daily motorbike news, views & reviews
Australia isn’t alone in the motorcycle sales slump with global sales down 5.4% in the first quarter of 2019, mainly due to slumps in the largest motorcycle markets, India and China. Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) motorcycle spokesman Rhys Griffiths says the contraction of Chinese and Indian markets is one of the biggest threats to …
Big business pushing sales through discounting is hurting the motorcycle industry in Australia, says a motorcycle importer and multi-dealership owner. James Mutton is the dealer principal of two multiple-franchise dealerships (Brisbane Motorcycles in Windsor and Caboolture), the Australian importer of Norton Motorcycles and a former British Superbike racer. Most notably, he is the son of veteran …
Motorcycle sales are now in a two-year slump in Australia and it’s time to ask what can be done about it. While it’s good news in the short term for customers with bike companies likely to offer discounts and dealers ready to do deals, it is not good for the industry and customers in the long …
Honda has led the January sales rush for the past three years and there is good reason to believe they will get the sales rush going again. January is a big motorcycle sales month as manufacturers/importers offer discounts to get rid of stock they didn’t sell at Christmas time. They are also keen to clear last …
Motorcycle sales continued to tumble in the first half of this year, down 5.9% on the first half of 2017 and 10.5% on the 2016 half-year result, according to the FCAI figures. It’s not good news for the industry, but good news for riders with July sales expected. The only good news was a 10.9% …
If we were to generalize things, we would say that there are two types of would-be motorcycle riders. On one side you have the ones that know exactly which kind of motorcycle they’ll ride, just like the players that already have their favorite pokies online to play. And on the other, you have the ones …
How many motorcycle dealerships have you been to that have signs saying Please do not sit on motorcycle? The signs could be one of the reasons motorcycle sales are down. They indicate a level of unapproachability in motorcycle dealerships. It’s bad enough that many dealers don’t allow demo rides, but not even sitting on a …
Harley-Davidson’s 2019 electric motorcycle may not be called a Livewire, flat tracker demo races could be staged in Australia, the Dyna name is not gone and forgotten, a national rally could return and Thai Harleys are coming. These are some of the interesting points raised by new Harley-Davidson Australia and New Zealand Motor Company managing …
Several motorcycle manufacturers now recognise that shorter riders are not being catered for by bikes with tall seats, so they are offering low seat options. However, these are usually not free. You have to buy the bike with the original tall seat then buy the short seat option sometimes costing as much as $600, depending …
The motorcycle industry needs to advertise more, spruce up its dealerships and reach out to non-riders, says an Australian riding veteran. His comments follow our recent article in which a Wall St researcher suggested sharing and leasing motorcycles to address the worldwide decline in sales. We have respected the writer’s wish to remain anonymous because he fears …