The first half of 2014 demonstrated once again that cycling is all the rage, and that the German bicycle industry is to some extent a weather-dependent sector. In accordance with this, the mild winter and beautiful spring 2014 have led to an increase in sales over the previous year.
Zweirad-Industrie-Verband e.V. (Bicycle Industry Association, ZIV) estimates that in 2014 around 2.8 million bicycles and e-bikes were sold to end users in Germany from January to June. This represents an increase of four percent over the first half of 2013. Due to continued good weather conditions, the ZIV is looking with confidence at the rest of 2014 and expects the positive trend to continue.
There was a slight decrease in bicycle and e-bike production. With some 1.6 million bicycles and e-bikes produced, German production fell slightly in the first half of 2014. From the perspective of the ZIV, this is mainly due to the difficult 2013 season. Due to weather conditions at the end of the year, both in industry and the trade there were existing inventories which needed to be reduced in 2014. For this reason, manufacturers were reserved in their production.
According to estimates of the ZIV, imports to Germany slightly declined in the first half of 2014. With an estimated 1.8 million bicycles and e-bikes, 2.5 percent less were imported to Germany than in the same period last year.
In addition to Cambodia and Poland, Taiwan and Bulgaria were the most important countries supplying imports.
Bicycle exports also fell slightly compared to the previous year due to weather conditions.
E-bike sales continue to increase!
The upward trend continues for e-bikes, resulting in good sales figures. According to estimates of the ZIV, 450,000 were sold in Germany this year. In the medium term, the ZIV estimates that the e-bike market can achieve an annual share of the total market of around 15 percent in Germany.
This would correspond to a total of around 600,000 e-bikes annually.
In view of changed usage behavior in everyday mobility, newly added providers, new model groups, and technical advancements, the ZIV sees this number as realistic.
There are more than 1.8 million e-bikes currently on the road in Germany. This means the German e-bike industry alone has achieved the goal of the federal government of putting more than one million electric vehicles on the streets of Germany.
Cycling is still in vogue!
The bicycle and e-bike are developing more and more from purely recreational vehicles into everyday mobility partners.
That the importance of the bicycle as part of everyday mobility is further increasing is underscored by the fact that city and trekking bikes are again the most popular models among German consumers.
Increased use of the bicycle in everyday life and the high proportion of bicycle retailers are also leading to increasing demand for high-quality components, accessories, and workshop services of dealers.
In the opinion of the ZIV, the bicycle has become an indispensable part of the mobility of the future. For this reason the ZIV advocates improvement of the cycling infrastructure. This is especially true for bike lanes and secure storage.
For the future issues of health, mobility, sustainability, and economy, no other means of transportation can offer as many starting points as the bicycle and e-bike.
The ZIV is promoting this development with its "Pro Bike” initiative.
With a wide variety of events (including acting as partners in the "Open Day of the Federal Government”), active participation in the legal and technical policy framework, and active communication management, the ZIV as the advocate for the interests of the German bicycle, e-bike, components, and accessories industry ensures that "cycling moves.”
ZIV is also active on the European level through the associations COLIBI (bicycle industry) and COLIPED (bicycle parts industry), demonstrating its commitment to improving bicycle conditions in Europe.
Press contact:
Stephan Schreyer / Head of Communications and Marketing / Tel.: +49 (0)6196 5077-13
Cell: +49 (0)160-90136846 / E-mail: schreyer@ziv-zweirad.de
Press release ZWEIRAD-INDUSTRIE-VERBAND E. V.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire