Stalled motorbike market looks to eco-models for kick start

Makoto Fukumori / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

With the domestic motorcycle market languishing at about 10 percent of its peak, due mainly to declining interest among young people, the industry is betting that eco-friendly innovations will rejuvenate sales.

The so-called Big Four domestic motorbike manufacturers--Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki--are introducing electric motorcycles in an effort to reinvigorate the market.

Motorcycle sales overseas have been increasing due to growing demand in Asian and other emerging economies.

Sales by Honda Motor Co. increased to 2.89 million units during the April-June period this year, up 28.2 percent from the same period in 2009, and Yamaha Motor Co. saw a 30.2 percent increase in its sales in the January-June period this year from the same period in 2009, selling 3.48 million units.

However, the number of motorbikes shipped to the domestic market by the four companies in 2009 shrank for a fourth consecutive year, by about 27 percent to about 380,000--about 11.6 percent of the peak level seen in 1982.

In the 1980s, many high schools prohibited students going to school by motorbike, a move that drove many young people away from the vehicles.

Also impacting negatively on the market was the introduction of private parking wardens in many parts of the nation, which meant motorbikes were more likely to receive parking tickets.

Other factors include the increased scarcity of motorbike parking spaces on footpaths and roads, and price increases caused by tighter regulations on motorbike exhaust levels.

The motorbike industry hopes eco-friendly electric motorcycles will generate more sales.

Yamaha plans to start selling its EC-03 single-rider electric motorcycle for 252,000 yen on Sept. 1. With a six-hour charge from an ordinary electrical outlet, the motorbike can travel about 43 kilometers.

Honda plans to sell its EV-neo electric motorcycle, designed for commercial use, from December. It can travel about 30 kilometers on a four-hour charge from an ordinary electrical outlet.

Suzuki Motor Corp. is developing a fuel-cell motorbike, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. is working on a hybrid model.