Motorcycles have evolved from a simple means of transportation to a new entertainment culture, and large-displacement motorcycles will become an important growth point in the future
Text | Deng Yujie Li Huangyin
Edit | Lee Huangyin
With the blessing of intelligence, motorcycle products have long changed, hedonistic demand has replaced traditional productive demand, and a high-growth market is accelerating.
On May 19, the 2023 Beijing International Motorcycle Show kicked off at the China International Exhibition Center, co-hosted by the China Motorcycle Chamber of Commerce and China International Exhibition Center Group Co., Ltd., with a scale of 70,000 square meters and attracting more than 500 brands to the event.
Lee Huangyin/Photo
There are many brands at this exhibition, and domestic brands are collectively unveiled, including domestic leading enterprises headed by Zongshen, Loncin, Chunfeng, Qianjiang, and Guangyang, and new domestic forces represented by Wuji, Kaiyue, Benda, Hanwei, Xinyuan, Jedi and Tairong. There are also a large number of international brands, European brands such as BMW, Ducati, Triumph, KTM, Piaggio, Japanese brands represented by Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki, and North American car companies represented by Polaris, Indian, and Harley all attended.
Behind this is the rapid development of China's motorcycle consumer market. According to the data of "China Motorcycle Industry Production and Sales News", the sales volume of medium and large displacement motorcycles above 250cc increased from 17,100 units in 2010 to 333,000 units in 2021, with a compound annual growth rate of 30.98%.
In addition, this exhibition also brings many high-end brands of cycling equipment, high-quality parts display and customized modification services to meet diversified market needs and rich exhibition experience.
According to official estimates, 20,000 professional visitors and 100,000 general visitors will be welcomed during the exhibition. It is worth mentioning that this year's motorcycle show will be exhibited one more day than before, fully reflecting its liveliness.
"Frankly speaking, the audience is different from the image of motorcycle enthusiasts in my impression." Zou Deqiang, an assistant professor of marketing at Fudan University's School of Management, who participated in the exhibition for the first time, told Carcaijing (ID: carcaijing).
Different from the tough guys and macho men dressed in military style in the impression, there are young parents who drag their families with mouths, there are elderly players, and more are energetic young people, who can clearly feel the diversification and popularization of motorcycle consumers.
According to data from Statistica, IMMA and other data, the current per capita consumption of medium and large displacement motorcycles in the mainland is only 1.3 / 10,000 units, far lower than the 9-22 / 10,000 in Europe and the United States, and about 5.3 / 10,000 in Japan. Motorcycles have changed from a means of transportation to medium and large displacement entertainment models, with high growth potential.
The rise of domestic brands, international brands join the "price involution"
Price became a highlight of this year's motorcycle show.
"We made the price within 90,000, guess 80,000? The price of the Ninja ZX-4R is 69,800 yuan! ZX-4RR is 76,800 yuan! At the booth of Kawasaki, the head Japanese brand, the host's voice just fell, and there was an exclamation and applause below.
This price "brought a little Kawasaki shock" to the market, and the official prices of the ZX-10R and ZX-10RR of the same series were 236,800 yuan and 349,800 yuan respectively. The price is down, but the configuration is still luxurious. Taking the low-end version of ZX-4R as an example, the power is equipped with a 399c inline four-cylinder water-cooled engine, which can reach 81 horsepower after stamping and can reach 18,000 rpm, which is called the "small four-cylinder beast".
Just 20 minutes before Kawasaki announced the price, the domestic independent brand Kaiyue also brought a new car 450RR, imitation racing appearance, equipped with a self-developed inline four-cylinder water-cooled engine, displacement of 443cc, the price is even more unexpected, the standard version is 35,800 yuan, the high-end version is 39,800 yuan.
"It's too rolled, what can other cars do with this price?" Some netizens sighed.
In addition, Italian brand Ducati's new Great Devil Diavel V4 debuted in China, equipped with a 1158cc four-cylinder engine with 180 horsepower; Japanese Yamaha brought the Tenere700, equipped with a water-cooled parallel twin-cylinder DOHC4-stroke engine, priced at 109,800 yuan; as well as Honda's CB750 and CL500, Indian Rush Chief and other models.
Among the independent brands, Chunfeng brought 6 new cars in one go, of which the XO Baboon Adventurer only costs 9,680 yuan, and the twin-cylinder water-cooled 450SR S is priced at 33,580 yuan; Benda brings a new cruise car Jinjira 450, equipped with a V-shaped twin-cylinder 450 engine, priced at 26,900 yuan...
In the past, domestic customers were not very loyal to the brand, and the degree of preference for motorcycle brands was not as strong as overseas, so they mainly relied on hard power to compete. In the past, domestic brands mainly relied on cost-effectiveness, imports, and joint venture competition, but now, with the new technology of electrification and intelligence, superimposed on the cost control ability of product manufacturers, domestic brands have become more and more competitive.
In view of the safety problem when riding alone, based on the Internet of Vehicles system, Wuji Locomotive has launched services such as intelligent call to emergency contacts, background customer service, nearby owners, personnel and vehicle rescue after reversing; If authorized by the previous user, the driver before reversing and the front and rear images of the car will be obtained by the background customer service and judge the situation so that rescue can be called.
"Intelligent technology has given us a lot of new ways to play," Peng Tao, executive deputy general manager of Wuji Domestic Marketing Center, told TravelYike (ID: carcaijing), adding that motorcycle users have strong community attributes and like to socialize in groups; In order to understand user needs, the entire company requires everyone to drive, regularly drive with users, and explore user needs, including helmet rear view case interaction in this context; Cooperate with Baidu Wenxin to create an intelligent voice interaction platform to ensure driving safety and improve driving experience.
"At present, Chinese motorcycles have an opportunity to impact the world's leading brands," Lai Minjie, general manager of Zhejiang Chunfeng Power Co., Ltd., told Carcaijing (ID: carcaijing), with the continuous investment in electrification and intelligent technology, Chinese motorcycle products overseas will be more likely to carry the potential energy of new technologies and directly enter the global market with a new attitude.
At first glance, this road is similar to the development and promotion path of new energy vehicles, but the two cannot be directly equated.
At present, India and many countries in Southeast Asia are vigorously promoting electric motorcycles and giving financial subsidies, hoping to make electric motorcycles an important strategic economic pillar industry.
For the Chinese market, consumers' acceptance of electric motorcycles is still in the early stage of the market, for products, the biggest problem facing manufacturers is how to make the price of electric motorcycles the same as traditional fuel vehicles. This not only requires the long-term persistence of a single enterprise, but also tests the efforts and adaptability of the upstream and downstream of the entire industrial chain.
Motorcycle culture rises, and large displacement becomes the new engine
"Frankly speaking, the audience is different from the image of motorcycle enthusiasts in my impression." Zou Deqiang, an assistant professor of marketing at Fudan University's School of Management, who participated in the exhibition for the first time, told Carcaijing (ID: carcaijing).
He said that the motorcycle enthusiasts in his impression are still tough guys dressed in military style, but he can see different types of consumers at the scene - there are young parents with families, there are elderly players, and more are energetic young people, who dress fashionably and are happy to experience, and it can also be seen that the company is trying to create a circle culture.
The Beijing International Motorcycle Exhibition also focused on the launch of the first "motorcycle circle" themed drama "Motorcycle Era", which specially wrote the evolution history of China's motorcycle culture and expressed its full support for its vigorous development under the premise of safe travel.
"Suddenly like a spring breeze overnight", motorcycle culture set off a new wind. With the gradual lifting of the ban on motorcycles and the implementation of the 6-year inspection exemption policy for new motorcycles, the demand for motorcycles has gradually been released.
In 2017, the Xi'an Municipal Government declared the Circular of the Xi'an Municipal People's Government on Strengthening the Comprehensive Management of Road Traffic Order issued in 2009 invalid. The Motor Vehicle Registration Regulations, which came into effect on May 1, 2022, simplify the registration and licensing process of motorcycles and provide great convenience for car purchase.
Lee Huangyin/Photo
On social platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin, more and more motorcycle friends post their motorcycles, share their motorcycle modification experience, ride journey VLOG and "treasure check-in points", and even become traffic passwords.
Not only did the blogger "Pi You" gain 28.685 million fans on Douyin by filming motorcycle content, but platforms such as Kuaishou and Xiaohongshu also set up relevant incentive programs to attract more motorcycle content creators to publish content.
In the past two years, many consumers have been interested in motorcycles through new media while they are at home, and now the industry has influxed a large number of new beginner players, driving the sales of motorcycles with a displacement of 250cc and below to rise rapidly.
In general, motorcycles below 150cc are small displacement, 200 to 400cc are medium displacement motorcycles, and motorcycles above 500cc are large displacement motorcycles. Due to the higher the requirements for cycling technology with larger displacements, novices generally start from 250-400cc, and the proportion of advanced displacement sections (400-750cc) is higher within 2 years, and then iteration on larger displacement is affected by addiction.
It is worth mentioning that at the entrance to the exhibition, the police of the traffic detachment of the Shunyi Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau specially sorted out the publicity warning board and shared the importance of safe driving on the spot. Officer Feng Weijian told Carcaijing that motorcycle enthusiasts have increased significantly in recent years, and novices need to have sufficient safety awareness. To this end, they took the initiative to communicate with the organizers and set up a booth to promote the importance of safe driving.
It is worth mentioning that motorcycles have evolved from a simple means of transportation to a new way of entertainment and leisure, deriving various models: street cars, station wagons, retro cars, coffee cars, imitation racing cars, etc. And large-displacement motorcycles are becoming the new engine of industry growth.
In this context, some manufacturers have chosen a multi-brand strategy to promote new vehicles in various segments in order to seize market share. At the Mobo, Qian Jiang and its Benelli, QJMOTOR, QJETECH and other brands released new products Hong150, and electric TQ series: including TQ light motorcycle, TQ electric motorcycle, TQ lithium battery products.
According to the statistics of the China Motorcycle Chamber of Commerce, the production and sales of motorcycles in mainland China in 2022 will be 21.2922 million units and 21.42 million units, respectively, down 16.08% and 15.55% year-on-year. However, the production and sales of large-displacement recreational motorcycles were 551,100 units and 553,400 units, up 47.51% and 44.68% year-on-year.
"The growth potential of domestic large-displacement motorcycles is great," Peng Tao told Carcaijing (ID: carcaijing), according to overseas experience, per capita income of $10,000 to $20,000/year is the golden range for the rapid growth of large-displacement motorcycles. Due to the previous low base, after the sales blowout in the past two years, the consumer demand for large-displacement motorcycles in the Chinese market will be slightly flattered, but it will still maintain a high growth rate.
The price of large-displacement motorcycles will also be higher, and the revenue from selling a car is almost equivalent to ten ordinary motorcycles, and the average price of models is about 30,000, mainly because of the model, price, and more advanced technology, which is also the focus of the current efforts and layout of various enterprises.
Not only cars, motorcycle consumer groups are very sticky, users have enthusiasm, and the consumption ability and desire for peripheral products are very strong. Peng Tao took himself as an example, spent 30,000 yuan on research and buying a car, and spent 60,000 or 70,000 yuan on the subsequent purchase of various cycling equipment, enjoying it. "The profit in the motorcycle store is also three parts of the world, respectively, selling cars, maintenance, selling peripheral equipment", for this reason, domestic motorcycle companies are working hard to build brands, erect their own IP, increase brand premium, and get more diversified income.
In this context, domestic motorcycle companies cooperate with overseas big brands, participate in international events, etc. can enhance brand power, Qianjiang Motorcycle directly purchased the international 1.5-line brand Benelli, Chunfeng Power and KTM in-depth cooperation and won the leading position in the Isle of Man TT, all hope to enhance consumer loyalty and form brand perception in the minds of consumers.
In the face of the diversified competition pattern and the Chinese market with explosive demand, independent brands are working hard to enrich the product matrix, improve research and development capabilities, and make the quality control of domestic motorcycles more stable and the performance better.
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Responsible Editor | Wang Jingyi
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