All European vehicle manufacturers have been very strongly impacted by the coronavirus crisis but Mercedes kicked off the resumption of work in these production lines in Austria last week, preceding many factories including Toyota in France today.
For Japanese motorcycle manufacturers, the situation is different since on the one hand the country of the rising sun has not experienced and still does not experience strict confinement despite the declaration of a state of emergency extended to the entire country this week last, and that on the other hand the European and American markets, where the coronavirus is most active, only represent around 10% of their turnover.
Generally speaking, Japanese motorcycle factories therefore continue to operate to supply Asian markets, mainly in small displacements, including in Japan where motorcycle shops are open.
However, we still know of some stops to compensate for the collapse of the various Western markets, and Yamaha for example, announced plans to pause 6 of its factories in Iwata, Hamamatsu, Fukuroi and Shuchi for 8 eight working days during the month of May. Stocks on the French market are currently supplied by boats from Japan with the flagship products of the brand with three tuning forks, while the Saint-Quentin factory in Aisne is closed, not only because of the French confinement but also because the X-Max engines manufactured at Minarelli in Italy are obviously no longer produced at the moment.
At Honda, où on vient d’arrêter temporairement la production des voitures à Suzuka et Saitama pendant cette semaine par manque de pièces détachées, on a également annoncé suspendre la production de la “Kumamoto Seisakujo Motorcycle Line” en raison de la baisse des ventes en Europe, durant la période du 13 avril au 14 avril, soit durant seulement deux jours ouvrables.
Regarding Suzuki, half of the factories producing cars are currently shut down (Iwata and Sagara) while the motorcycle line located in Hamamatsu is still operating, but at reduced speed.
Obviously, all Japanese manufacturers are also strongly established in South-East Asia where the factories are operating at full capacity.
MotoGP question, all the motorcycles were transferred by Dorna from an air-conditioned warehouse in Qatar to Spain in the Zaragoza region, but there is no doubt that they will be repatriated at the teams' expense to their respective European bases (Barcelona for Honda, Italy for Ducati, Aprilia, Yamaha and Suzuki, Austria for KTM) as soon as the various regulations linked to road transport allow it. A priori, with the current closure of the Spanish border, the Hondas will therefore be the first to return home, if they have not already done so…
However, we remind you that the MotoGP has been frozen for 2020 and 2021, and that consequently no development is authorized until then.
