PSB reports that Textron-owned snowmobile and ATV manufacturer Arctic Cat has announced that some 65 employees have been laid off at its Thief River Falls, MN facility (Nov 13, 2024), with many of its hourly production workforce employees also being furloughed "until early next year" when production is expected to resume. A company quarterly report states that "lower anticipated consumer demand" for specialized vehicles and canceled projects were factors in the company’s decision to "reduce operating expenses through headcount reductions."
Finally, some good news as the decade-long saga of the demise of the ill-starred Stuart Garland Norton motorcycles era continues to cause ripples in the UK. BDN has reported that pensioners who lost money from the Norton pension schemes have finally been compensated. More than 200 people who had been defrauded after former Norton brand owner Garner illegally invested their pension assets in Norton Motorcycle Holdings have had their money refunded by the UK's Pension Protection Fund, with more that £9.4m (approx. $12m) refunded.
Data from ACEM (Brussels) shows electric new motorcycle registrations (all L-Category vehicles) down by -25% for the first ten months of 2024 at 21,165 units. Germany is down by -45.8% (4,327 units) and Italy is down by -29.9% at 4,999 units YTD. Of Europe's 'Big Five' national markets France is the largest and is the only one holding on to demand - though still down YTD by -2.0% with 6,750 units sold. Registrations of L-Category electric mopeds are down in each of the 'Big Six' markets for those types of PTWs at -21.8% (38,681 units). These are the low cc equivalent Powered Two Wheelers and the 'Big Six' are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. Belgium is the largest of the six, with France second and the Netherlands third. This data excludes E-assist cycles - which is a much larger market in Europe, in unit terms, and one that is still believed to growing. The data gathered for that sector is 'patchy' at best though as there are not many markets where conventional registrations are required and retail sales data, where available, is not reliable.
In terms of motorcycles of 250 cc and above, exports of motorcycles made in the 'Big Four' domestic Japanese based motorcycle brand factories have been softening in Europe as 2024 has developed, having staged somewhat of a comeback in the prior 24 months, but have rallied impressively to the USA. The latest available data (through September 2024) from JAMA (the automotive trade association in Japan, which includes representation of motorcycle manufacturers among its membership) shows exports to USA up by +27.59% at 67,179 units YTD. In contrast exports to Europe were down by -16.58% at 147,817 units. Global Japanese made motorcycle exports were -7.57% at 271,269 units, with total Global PTW (Powered Two-Wheeler) exports down by -9.86% at 332,841 units. For the record, annual worldwide Japanese made motorcycle and moped exports (all PTW) fell off a cliff in 2009 to 583,879 from over one million in 2008, having peaked at 1,641 million units in 2000. They have continued to decline most years since then, in large part as the Japanese brands have invested in production capacity elsewhere. However, the majority of higher value, larger displacement Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki models continue to be made in Japan. In 2023 they were at 518,259 units (+6.46%). European motorcycle imports from the Japanese factories were at +17.26% (247,187 units) in 2023; they were down by -1.34% to USA in 2023 at 132,218 units.
Parts Europe has added Ohlins suspension parts to its burgeoning inventory. The arrangement is to start with Harley-Davidson aftermarket cruiser/custom fitments, with parts for all other brands and segments following soon after. Ohlins was sold recently, with Apollo owned, $18bn turnover US conglomerate Tenneco accepting a € 370m offer from Brembo in Italy. The news came hard on the heels of an announcement that PE had also added the Italian made Zard H-D application exhausts, and the Denali brand of LED lights and related products. Founded by Northeastern US distributor Twisted Throttle, Denalli and TT were bought by Washington State based lighting specialist Vision X. Vision X/Denali were subsequently bought by Brown Wilson International in Australia, which in turn was bought by the giant Australian Amotiv group (formerly GUD Holdings). There's always a bigger fish!
Harley sold 297 units in Sweden for the first nine months of 2024, for ninth spot (3.95%) in market share terms in the spiritual home of the Chopper. That was down from a 5.52% share (533 units) in the same period of 2023. Yamaha is market leaders in Sweden, followed by BMW, Honda, KTM and Kawasaki.
Owned by Vision X in Washington State, USA, the Denali brand of LED electronic accessories is now available for dealers in Europe through Parts Europe in Germany. Products include "a complete lighting and visibility package that includes the lights, light mounts, auxiliary brake light and a single intelligent plug-n-play controller to provide effortless installation and integrated control of all your accessories"; denalielectronics.com, visionx-europe.com, parts-europe.com
The IMF reports that global public debt is forecast to exceed $100tn by the end of 2024. IMF reports that the major economies' plans to stabilise borrowing will "fall far short of what is needed" - leaving advanced and emerging economies perilously exposed to the risks of global economic collapse.
Following the news that American owned, Italian electric sportbike manufacturer Energica is bankrupt, another high-profile e-bike brand has gone into bankruptcy. New York based Fuell Motorcycles has now joined the ever-growing list of electric PTW start-ups that are not, in fact, going the start up anymore. Fuell was the brand backed by former sportbike and H-D man Erik Buell.
