For decades, China's manufacturing industry has been booming, and now it is possible to manufacture aircraft carriers, but what makes people think about it is that even a motorcycle cannot be built, and all Chinese motorcycle companies are not as good as a Honda. Why, exactly?
1. Can China's aircraft carriers be built?
Since the reform and opening up, China's manufacturing industry has made rapid progress, not only selling products to every corner of the world, but also attracting the world's attention to the emergence of large heavy weapons, such as large aircraft, China's Sky Eye, SHIELD machine, Long March rocket, Beidou navigation, China's space station, etc. There is also the aircraft carrier that most tests the comprehensive industrial capability of a country, and China has completed the construction, sea trial and service of the Shandong ship in only five years. Even the automotive industry, which has been weak, after nearly a decade of efforts, independent brands have been able to stand in the same arena as global car companies in terms of core technology.
2. Can't even build a motorcycle?
However, what makes people wonder is that we can even build an aircraft carrier, so why can't we even build a motorcycle? On the one hand, although there are many motorcycle companies in China, all of them add up to a Japanese Honda. According to the data, Japan's Honda alone, the production and sales of motorcycles in 2019 exceeded 20 million units, accounting for one-third of the global share. In 2019 and 2020, China's motorcycle production and sales have hovered at 17 million units for two consecutive years. In addition, the annual revenue of China's motorcycle industry is less than 100 billion, and the profit is about 3.5 billion, which is really not worth mentioning.
On the other hand, the quality of China's motorcycle companies is too poor, and they can only struggle in the entry-level low-end market, while in the high-end large-displacement market, there is no sense of market presence. There are many motorcycle brands in China, but the reputation and quality are difficult to be satisfactory, basically relying on cottages or low prices to survive. Joint ventures and foreign brands monopolize China's motorcycle market. The combined sales volume of the two joint ventures of Wuyang-Honda and New Honda can rank in the top three of the list. Large-displacement high-end motorcycles are basically the world of Honda, BMW and Suzuki, and it is difficult for independent brands to touch.
3. Why?
First of all, independent motorcycle enterprises have insufficient technical reserves, especially the existence of large shortcomings in core technologies, resulting in low brand value of their products and low market recognition. Independent brand motorcycles are also actively entering the medium and large displacement models, but there are only a few who really have engine manufacturing capabilities, and most of them are assembled and produced through purchased engines. Some people will say that the engine with the independent faucet and Loncin motorcycle is more powerful, but to be clear, the high-end engine produced by Loncin is oem for BMW, in the strict sense, it is just a foundry. The lack of core engine technology of self-owned brand motorcycles is an open secret.
Secondly, the large-displacement motorcycle market cannot go in, and the small-displacement motorcycle belongs to the low-end manufacturing industry, with low-end profits, and the head enterprises are not willing to enter the industry. As a result, independent motorcycle brands are getting worse and worse. And the competitors? All are Honda, Suzuki, BMW and other Fortune 500 companies in the world, which is simply a dimensionality reduction blow for independent motorcycle brands. Honda's auto business is probably in the top ten in the world, motorcycles are the world's first, and it can also build airplanes; Suzuki is the world-famous king of small cars, and BMW is a luxury car brand that can make supercars.
Finally, according to statistics, there are more than 200 cities in China that have implemented the policy of banning motorcycles and limiting motorcycles. This has led to more than 80% of China's motorcycle market, concentrated in third- and fourth-tier cities, as well as townships and rural areas. Consumers in China's mainstream motorcycle market are relatively sensitive to price. As a result, independent motorcycle brands are generally miniaturized and low-end. In order to survive, independent motorcycle companies have fought a price war and uncontrolled promotions, more and more inward volumes, seriously constrained development, continuous compression of living space, it is difficult to produce high-quality products, and it is impossible to compete with joint ventures and foreign capital.