Canada only NC 750 Honda

Coyote Chris · Aug 21, 2017

DirtFlier said:
[...Third world sales are good for volume but not for profit. Most of those sales are small inexpensive scooters and motorcycles...]

Yes and No. There is more profit-per-unit in a Gold Wing or VRF1200 but if you only sell 100 of each per year plus you have to stock a boatload of parts, it doesn't amount to much money. Making only $100 on a each scooter but selling 700,000+ of them each year comes to a nice pile of change, plus they have only simple parts to keep in stock.

ps. In ref to parts, "in stock" means at the distributorship - not at your local dealer because they don't stock anything! :-(

I wonder how Honda is doing vs Triumph and BMW? Last time I looked Royal Enfield of India was doing well world wide.
Are we not privy to sales information from motorcycle manufactures around the world? You would think seeing what bikes sell and why and what bikes dont and why would float all
boats. If riders want F700 type bikes....give it to them....dont try and sell me an NC700 with the footpegs out to the front wheel.

Yamaha is now making the STAR VENTURE. Basically a Harley Davison look alike tourer. I think the manufactures are groping for what might ignite the motorcycle market again....
I wish them luck. $5.00 a gallon gas would help, but maybe not as much as we think.....I have no idea why we as young people bought bikes in droves and the young people today
have no interest.

Coyote Chris · Aug 21, 2017

RedLdr1 said:
I saw .6% for North America motorcycle sales in one of their recent annual reports. Europe was around 4% if I remember correctly. Honda is definitely betting on "Third World" sales....

You saw an annual report? Bike sales by country? Models by country? If Europe buys 8x the bikes we do, then no wonder they get options!

JohnC · Aug 21, 2017

Coyote Chris said:
I have no idea why we as young people bought bikes in droves and the young people today have no interest.

We didn't have cell phones, computers and game systems, and the internet growing up.

I also think today's youth is also more risk averse.

DirtFlier · Aug 22, 2017

Perhaps an answer to one of the "why?" questions has to do with demographics and the local economy.

Here, gasoline has always been cheap even during that dreadful period with the OPEC oil embargo; conversely, in many other countries the price of fuel vs their monthly wage is often astronomical. This creates a situation where many families don't own cars but rely on scooters and small motorcycles for transportation. Yup, we've all seen the photos of the family somewhere in SE Asia on a Honda step-through 90, carrying 2 adults, 3 kids, and a pig! All those kids riding on that scooter had the 2-wheel seed planted early and perhaps they'll never own a car in their lifetime?

In ref to the mid-size question, the mindset of many manufacturers is that for just a tiny bit more in material costs they can make a 700 into a 1000 and charge more. Looking at the from the buyer's end, there is always the reluctance to pay xxx-dollars for a 700 because "I can buy a 1000 for that much." This is what the Deauville bumped into when it came to the US market because the price seemed very high for a 700. In retrospect, the NT700V offered a nice sport touring package with integrated saddlebags, adjustable windshield and no one else had anything close. I only wish they'd fitted a modern engine and not an outgrowth of the HawkGT 650 engine but that would have made it more expensive.... Oh well.

Sorry if this was such a long ramble. Well, I survived the eclipse and did take a break from my chores to look at it 2-3 times, using the helmet for my MIG welder.

Warren · Aug 22, 2017

DirtFlier said:
ps. In ref to parts, "in stock" means at the distributorship - not at your local dealer because they don't stock anything! :-(

I think most of the stock issues at the local dealer today has to do with the fact so many of them are multi brand dealerships. Pretty difficult to manage the cost for all the parts that would be required let alone the inventory on all the motorcycles. In the late 60's and early 70's most of the Honda and Yamaha dealerships I bought my motorcycles from only carried one brand so keeping the common parts on hand was not as much of an issue. Most of those dealerships were also pretty small. Since they only had one brand you did not need a lot of showroom space to have one of every model on the floor. If I remember right in the early years most major motorcycle manufactures would not let you sell competing brands. In 1999 when living in St.Louis I went into the Yamaha dealership to get a battery strap for my 1977 Yamaha XS650 and they still had one in stock. They had an amazing amount of parts for old Yamaha's. That dealership is a multi generation family business.

SuperDave · Aug 22, 2017

https://www.statista.com/statistics/267277/worldwide-motorcycle-sales-of-honda/

I found this website that reports Honda selling 430,000 motorcycles in the US in 2015.
That number represents 2.7% of their world-wide total of 17.66 million motorcycles.
The US has about 4.4% of the world-wide population.
You are all right about the US being a smaller than expected market for motorcycles.

Dave

ARKNT · Aug 22, 2017

I just think dealers and manufacturers are looking at short term return on investment. I can't really blame them but I believe that adds to the reason the motorcyclist aging issue is here as baby boomers get too old to ride and younger bunch is not as interested.
Customer service is not what it used to be and not just with bikes. I'm done with my rant for now.

Brad

DirtFlier · Aug 22, 2017

[I found this website that reports Honda selling 430,000 motorcycles in the US in 2015.]

If that's true, I'd venture a guess that Honda sales are a lot smaller now because the sales for the entire industry - all brands - is a little bit over 500k units.

RedLdr1 · Aug 22, 2017

Coyote Chris said:
You saw an annual report? Bike sales by country? Models by country? If Europe buys 8x the bikes we do, then no wonder they get options!

Yes, No, No, Yes...

Yes, Honda corporate produces an Annual Report. All investors are provided a copy and it is a public document. It's on their corporate website. See Here for the latest FY2017 Annual Report. Motorcycle Sales are on Page 13. Keep in mind the North American number of 294,000 includes ATV's and other non-street legal products not just motorcycles. The 217,000 units in Europe looks smaller but it is more motorcycles since ATV's and other off road products aren't popular, or even legal in some cases, in Europe.

Coyote Chris · Aug 25, 2017

RedLdr1 said:
Yes, No, No, Yes...

Yes, Honda corporate produces an Annual Report. All investors are provided a copy and it is a public document. It's on their corporate website. See Here for the latest FY2017 Annual Report. Motorcycle Sales are on Page 13. Keep in mind the North American number of 294,000 includes ATV's and other non-street legal products not just motorcycles. The 217,000 units in Europe looks smaller but it is more motorcycles since ATV's and other off road products aren't popular, or even legal in some cases, in Europe.

Verrryyyyyy interesting.....

Coyote Chris · Aug 25, 2017

DirtFlier said:
[I found this website that reports Honda selling 430,000 motorcycles in the US in 2015.]

If that's true, I'd venture a guess that Honda sales are a lot smaller now because the sales for the entire industry - all brands - is a little bit over 500k units.

My Honda dealer today said sales of street bikes have been way down for the year.....

RedLdr1 · Aug 26, 2017

Coyote Chris said:
My Honda dealer today said sales of street bikes have been way down for the year.....

It's been my experience that you have to have a product that people want to buy to have sales...:wink:

Coyote Chris · Aug 26, 2017

RedLdr1 said:
It's been my experience that you have to have a product that people want to buy to have sales...:wink:

So simple yet so true....or at any rate you have to price them right. When BMW did a back door price drop on 800GTs for $4,000 off, they sold.
When Yamaha sold 2014 FJRs for $13,800, even I bought one. But many left overs arent selling even at good prices. IMHO, Some company sponsored
inventory reduction rebates are way too low. My Honda dealer says there are still 2015 VFR800s sitting in wearhouses and Honda only is offering $300 off.
You can do better than that on cycletrader but if they would knock $1,000 off plus the dealers coming down, they might move. Not that I would buy one and just
put it in my living room.....but some might!