Honda by most standards is the rock of the motorcycle industry, so take notice with the news that the Japanese manufacturer is preparing to cease its production lines in Santa Perpetua, Spain. While not an outright closure, 160 employees will be laid off, taking the Spanish Honda workforce from 340 employees to 180.
Because of the changes in the economy, Austrian based KTM has had to readjust their sales forecasts for the X-Bow track car/go-kart on steroids, resulting in KTM halting current production of the X-Bow until 2010.
In an effort to reduce production costs, Kawasaki is about to become the first Japanese motorcycle manufacturer to have its motorcycles built in a developing country. Starting in 2010, Kawasaki will transfer the production of its medium and large-sized motorcycles from Japan to Thailand.
According to financial experts at Bloomberg, Kawasaki’s motives are based on reducing costs by taking advantage of the cheap labor found in Thailand. Rumor has it that Honda is also considering moving its production to Thailand, presumably for similar reasons.
Source: Bloomberg
Husqvarna (which BMW bought in 2007) will be moving to its new headquarters in Italy by the end of May this year. The move is part of BMW’s plan to have all the Husqvarna business units in one facility. This means that all the engine, testing, development, styling, and racing divisions of Husqvarna will exist under one roof at the Cassinetta di Biandronno facility, in the Varese district of Italy.
Part of BMW’s motivation behind the move is to reduce costs and to sort out Husqvarna’s problems with quality control and supplies of spare parts. While Husqvarna only sold 12,000 bikes in 2007, BMW hopes to increase sales by over three times the current levels over the next 2 to 3 years. In fact, the new manufacturing facility will have the capacity to produce up to 40,000 Husqvarna motorcycles every year.
BMW intends to keep Husqvarna as an off-road specialist brand and use R&D inputs from the company to improve/develop its own dual-purpose and off-road machines.
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Yamaha Motors has announced it will cut motorcycle output at its Japanese factories by almost a one quarter, or nearly 87,000 units, this year. This will mean that Yamaha will produce just over 260,000 units for the year, Yamaha’s lowest output level in nearly forty years. According to Reuters, the Japanese firm will halt production at its main assembly plant, to reduce output by 13,000 motorcycles as a starting point, with further reductions in production expected over the coming months. It is unclear what model bikes will be reduced the most, but certainly the reductions will touch every segment.
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