Round Up

ROUND UP

JOE PARKHURST

WARDS AUTOMOTIVE reports are again bringing us up to date on the current sales trends in motorcycles. For the first four months of 1972 sales are up in places, down in others. Wards reports that the importing of motorcycles (not necessarily sales) is off, down to 630,000, against 700,000 for the similar period in 1971.

The boom is not over, says Wards. Japanese builders are holding on to 89.3 percent of the market, with Honda accounting for an estimated 50 percent of that. The Japanese held 89.9 percent for the first six months of last year, and 92.2 percent a year and a half ago. Including all bikes imported in 1971, the Japanese held 89.7 percent of the total market.

England accounted for nearly 30,000 machines in the first six months of 1971, a 3.9 percent total of the market. For 1972 the first quarter shows only 13,579 bikes, due mostly to strikes. The big “comer,” according to Wards, is Taiwan. It has doubled its imports into the U.S. the first quarter of this year.

Harley-Davidson’s Italian made bikes are making significant headway with forecasts showing it increasing its cut of the market to as high as 10 percent. Yamaha has acquired the Wankel rotary engine license from Audi NSU-Wankel G.M.B.H., and announced the first rotary Yamaha at the 1972 Tokyo Motor Show. CW features this revolutionary machine in this issue.

COMPARATIVE ADVERTISING

With the fast rising popularity of the super bike, and the proliferation of models coming from so many different makers, it didn’t take long for another element in the selling and marketing of extremely competitive products to arrive—comparative advertising.

Honda is probably not going to like BSA’s advertising in 1973 one bit. I have seen advance copies of the BSA ads scheduled for CYCLE WORLD in the forthcoming months. The first is a handsome two-page spread comparing the Triumph Trident and the Honda Four, two of the most competitive in the hot super bike market. BSA praises the Honda, as well it should, but it describes the Triumph owner as an “expert”, and the sales market leading Honda rider an “enthusiast.”

Felix Kalinski, BSA president, was quoted in Advertising Age magazine as saying, “We have made our relatively small percentage of the market (about 4 percent) into an advantage. We have challenged the reader to notice the subtle differences that make ours a great machine.” Gaynor & Ducas is the advertising agency, which astutely noted that Honda is liable to get “mad as hell” over the campaign. I have wondered for some time who would be the first to employ one of the most contemporary forms of advertising in use today. After all, Ford compared to a Rolls in its ads, several hit hard at Volkswagen with direct, and almost always unfavorable, comparisons. Another is matching its to such vehicles as Jaguar sedans and Mercedes Benz. The agency has nothing but kind words for the Honda in the Triumph spread, though as Advertising Age pointed out, the words have a “hollow ring.”

NON-INSURANCE INSURANCE

An interesting system is developing in Europe, designed to protect the low budget, independent motorcycle, car, boat, etc. racer. The system is called Racing Unlimited, at P.C. Hofftstraat 99, Amsterdam 1033, The Netherlands. Though operating somewhat like an insurance company, it claims not to be one.

The system requires that the racing vehicle owner pay a percentage into a fund. The percentage is fixed by determining the value of the machine, and the risk involved in the event. This fun^ is run on a monthly basis and change? month to month. Damages to a machine involved in a racing accident would be assessed by Racing Unlimited, which receives 15 percent of the fee for its trouble.

Participation in the fund is for one month only. Participants pay for one month of racing, regardless of the type of events Racing Unlimited is involved with. Racing Unlimited claims it is cheaper than insurance because insurance companies must pay a larger overhead, depending on the size of the companies, number of employees, size of their buildings, etc. These expenses, says Racing Unlimited, may run as high as 25 to 50 percent.

Racing Unlimited claims it can run the fund for only 15 percent of th^ total, leaving 85 percent to pay clain^ against damages. It is not designed to cover third party, only damage to the vehicle involved in the accident. I can dig it.