As a patron of the event, FEMA (the Federation of European Motorcyclists' Associations) will speak at the First International Conference on Road Safety for Motorcyclists on Friday 20 September 2019 at the AISICO Test House & Lab in Pereto, Italy. Staged in collaboration with the European Union Road Federation (ERF), the ongoing work to make guardrails more motorcyclist-friendly is a priority theme. FEMA says the need of an international debate about this subject arises from the release in April of a new Italian decree about the road safety system for motorcyclists. The decree follows the EU regulation CEN/TS 17342:2019 and describes the technical specifications to reduce the impact severity of motorcyclists' collisions with safety barriers.
New motorcycle registrations in Germany were +6.24% January to July at 87,512 units sold - the best first seven months there since before 2008. The top selling model YTD remains the BMW R 1250 GS (7,739 units); with seven models among the top 30 best sellers, it is no surprise that BMW has stretched its German market dominance still further, having sold 21,198 units in total YTD for a 17.04 percent market share. Honda was second, KTM third, Yamaha fourth and Kawasaki fifth.
A 1965 Aston Martin DB5 "Bond Car" achieved a record-breaking $6,385,000 during a single-marque auction with Aston Martin at RM Sotheby's Monterey auction in August, exceeding the previous record by nearly $2 million.
New motorcycle registrations in the UK were +2.33% January - July 2019 at 65,442 units. The largest single sector there are 'Naked' style bikes, accounting for nearly a third of sales (22,742 units), with Adventure Sport the second largest (12,820 units YTD - the BMW R 1250 GS Adventure the best seller). The 'Custom' sector was worth just under 5,000 units for the first seven months, with Harley's Sport Glide the best seller.
Japanese made motorcycle exports to USA for the first six months of 2019 were -20.48 percent 29,762 units. Total PTW exports (motorcycles, mopeds and scooters) to USA were -12.71 percent at 47,196 units. Motorcycle exports to USA from Japan were nearly 102,000 units in 2009, having peaked at around 217,000 in 2006. The increasing number of units being made by Japanese manufacturers elsewhere in Asia, the US and South/Central America goes some way to providing historical context for the data.
H-D is facing a class action lawsuit for an allegedly defective anti-lock braking system on the basis that dealers and riders were not warned about an alleged defect in the ABS wiring harness that could have resulted in the "possibility of sudden, unexpected ABS braking failure for over 150,000 motorcycle owners across the country." Plaintiffs in four states have filed class action lawsuits on behalf of the owners of Touring model motorcycles produced from 2008 through 2010.
Global dividends for April to June reached $513.8bn (£423.6bn), up 1.1% from a year earlier. The growth rate is slowing though as the global economy also slows. A strong dollar is also making the growth look sluggish. It is estimated that companies worldwide will pay out a total of $1.43 trillion in dividends in 2019.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, B&B, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek