Business is booming: More and more car manufacturers are entering the motorcycle industry

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Business is booming

More and more car manufacturers are entering the motorcycle industry

Business is booming: More and more car manufacturers are entering the motorcycle industry-entering

dpa / MV Augusta The Turismo Veloce is the first travel model from MV Agusta – in the future car manufacturer Daimler wants to get involved here

What works for four wheels could also be worthwhile for two: car manufacturers are increasingly interested in the motorcycle industry. No wonder the market is booming. With new technology that has already proven itself in cars, two-wheelers are now also to be upgraded.

More displacement, more power and more torque: This is how the Italian motorcycle manufacturer MV Agusta describes its model with the meaningful name "Brutale". At first glance, nobody would associate the heavy machines with the limousines of the car manufacturer Daimler. That should change in the future: the car industry is currently discovering the business with two-wheelers for itself – Daimler recently announced its entry into MV Agusta through its tuning subsidiary AMG.

"The fact that Daimler is now entering the motorcycle market is certainly also due to the fact that many other automobile manufacturers are also active in this market," explains Alexander Brenner, who is responsible for the automobile and motorcycle industry at Roland Berger strategy consultancy. “This is a very exciting market. The development that we had with passenger cars is now also taking place with motorcycles. Assistance systems and networking with the Internet will also be transferred to two-wheelers in the future."

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Bosch wants to enter the “potential billion dollar market”

Daimler’s arch-rivals Audi and BMW are also active in the motorcycle business: In 2012, the VW subsidiary absorbed the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Ducati, with which Daimler had previously worked. BMW has long had its own division.

Bosch, one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, recently announced that it would focus more on the motorcycle business. "With our new motorcycle drive systems, we are entering a potentially billion-dollar market," explains Rolf Bulander, Managing Director of Robert Bosch GmbH. With an electronic control of the injection, among other things, the supplier wants to bring digitization into two-wheel. According to Brenner, Bosch can transfer its know-how from the automotive sector to motorcycles comparatively easily and thus generate additional sales.

“The motorcycle has a positive emotional connotation”

The interest in the motorcycle business does not surprise experts: "The topic of e-mobility is also important for motorcycles," says car expert Stefan Bratzel from the University of Economics in Bergisch Gladbach.

Managing Director Reiner Brendicke of the Motorcycle Industry Association (IVM) cites another reason: "Motorcycles have positive emotional connotations," he says. “That’s where things get exciting for an automobile manufacturer. I think it’s all about boosting your image."

Hobby for well-heeled pensioners?

Daimler has also indicated that it wants to win more customers by joining MV Agusta. The AMG tuning subsidiary, through which the deal is being made, also wants to sharpen its own profile as a sports brand. Conversely, MV Agusta can benefit from Daimler’s extensive sales network and penetrate more strongly into individual markets.

But motorcycles weren’t long considered a hobby for rich pensioners? In fact, the average motorcyclist in this country was around 50 years old, according to a study by the Institute for Public Opinion and Motor Presse Stuttgart.

On the motorbike through the overcrowded metropolises of Asia

But: "Motorcycles are still cheaper and extremely flexible for young people compared to cars," explains expert Brenner. An interesting target group is, for example, cyclists in urban areas such as China and India, where the need for small, manoeuvrable means of transport is comparatively high. For example, Bosch has developed components for cheaper two-wheelers in Asia as well as for heavy machinery in Europe and North America.

And in Germany, too, the market has recently been booming again – thanks to new driver’s license classes and outdated horsepower regulations. According to the Motorbike Industry Association, new registrations from January to September rose by more than 9 percent year-on-year to 88.636 motorcycles. According to a new regulation, beginners are allowed to drive around 48 hp instead of 34 hp. The lifting of the 80 km/h limit for the 125 class also caused a boom.

In 2013 there was an increase of almost a third in driving licenses for so-called light motorcycles, says IVM Managing Director Brendicke. This speaks for a “significantly growing interest among young people”. In general, however, motorcycle revenues are similar to those in the car industry, restricts expert Brenner: Small vehicles also mean smaller profits.

Video: Construction worker tinkers roof tile lift from motorcycle

kjo/dpa

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