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Source:  http://veloptimum.net/velonouvelles/8/ART/9sept/EchocsFr22.html

Lutte contre la pollution, contre l'obésité, renchérissement des prix du carburant, rareté du crédit, les fabricants d'automobiles ont du souci à se faire. Mais comme dans toute crise, s'il y a des perdants, il y a des gagnants.

Selon The Economist, le grand vainqueur est le vélo. En 2007, 130 millions de petites reines ont été vendues dans le monde et 52 millions de voitures. Et cette tendance ne fait que se renforcer.

En août, le numéro un mondial, le fabricant taïwanais, Giant, a battu son record mensuel avec 460 000 vélos et s'achemine vers une année sans précédent. Selon l'hebdomadaire britannique, le vélo est « le remède pour presque toutes les maladies modernes ».

Chaque marché a en outre sa propre particularité. Les Européens font du vélo pour se déplacer en ville mais préfèrent les machines les plus coûteuses. Les Américains aiment les VTT du style BMX. Les Taïwanais eux souhaitent de bons vieux vélos de course pour faire du sport. Et évidemment, le numéro un mondial fait de tout pour chaque marché.

Les fabricants sont devenus l'exemple de l'industrie à contre-courant de la déprime ambiante. Grâce à une demande croissante, ils sont même parvenus à faire absorber la très forte hausse des prix des matériaux nécessaires à leur fabrication comme l'aluminium. Depuis 2004, le prix de gros d'un vélo a augmenté de 23 % en Europe, 45 % en Amérique et de près de 50 % en Asie, sans décourager les clients.

Telle qu'elle est racontée par The Economist, l'histoire de Giant est aussi un peu celle de la globalisation. Elle commence en 1972 grâce à la main-d'oeuvre bon marché à Taiwan. Pour se mettre en selle, le fabricant reçoit une importante commande de Schwinn, la marque de vélos dominante de l'époque aux Etats-Unis. Mais cette dernière décide de faire fabriquer ses vélos en Chine méridionale dans une usine ne parvenant ni à assurer la qualité ni à honorer ses commandes. Et Schwinn a finalement fait faillite avant d'être racheté par le canadien Dorel Industries, pendant que Giant poursuivait son ascension. En pleine débâcle des Bourses mondiales, Giant Manufacturing est aussi l'action anticyclique. Vendredi elle a encore augmenté de 6,9 %, son maximum autorisé à la Bourse de Taipeh. Son carnet de commandes serait déjà plein jusqu'en juin 2009, d'après le journal taïwanais United Daily News ».

18 septembre 2008

Obesity and high oil prices are good news for the world’s biggest bikemaker

These are tough times for carmakers, many of which are labouring under high oil prices, slowing demand and financial weakness. For makers of human-powered, two-wheeled vehicles, by contrast, business is booming. Giant Manufacturing, the world’s largest bicycle-maker, sold a record 460,000 units last month and is heading for its best year ever. Such is the demand for bikes that shortages were reported in New York earlier this year. In Taiwan, Giant’s home market, supply is tighter still: for many models, buyers put down deposits months before their bikes come off the assembly line.

After a slow 2006, sales took off last year in Europe and America as fuel prices shot up. Suddenly a bicycle seems like the remedy for many modern ills, from petrol prices to pollution and obesity. Each market has its own idiosyncrasies. Europeans mainly use bikes for commuting, but have the odd habit of ignoring models made explicitly for that purpose in favour of sleeker, faster models which are then expensively modified. Americans prefer off-road BMX trail bikes. Taiwanese demand is led by racing-style bikes used for exercise.

Giant, as the largest producer, makes everything for every market. Its share price has held up fairly well despite stockmarket turmoil and dramatically higher costs for raw materials, notably aluminium. Strong demand and a desire for better bikes have allowed bikemakers to pass higher material costs on to buyers. Since 2004 wholesale prices of bikes have gone up by 23% in Europe, 45% in America and almost 50% in Asia, even as thousands of low-cost factories in China, including some run by Giant, churn out boatloads of cheap bikes.

Giant began in 1972, taking advantage of low-cost Taiwanese labour to make bicycles for foreign firms as well as domestic buyers. A critical early order came from Schwinn, the dominant American brand of the time, which wanted to reduce its dependence on a factory in Chicago that was beset by poor labour relations and low productivity. After contracting out to Giant proved successful, Schwinn shifted its orders to a factory in southern China. But quality was poor, deliveries were late and Schwinn slid into bankruptcy. (It is now owned by Dorel Industries of Canada.)

Meanwhile, having started out as a low-cost manufacturer, Giant was moving upmarket. Even its cheapest bikes, which are sold in China, are relatively expensive (at around $100), yet Giant has the largest market share, at around 7%, according to Deutsche Bank. Globally, Giant is one of a handful of big companies that can make frames and forks (the most important components of a bicycle) out of sophisticated alloys and carbon fibre. Components from other manufacturers are then added to the frame. The resulting bikes are sold under Giant’s own name, or under contract to big customers in Europe and America.

Because frame- and component-makers are happy to sell to potential competitors, there are in effect no barriers to entry to the bike business—all that is needed is a brand name. As a result, competition is brutal. Capturing customers at volume, and at ever-higher prices, requires an unending series of improvements. Giant will soon begin distributing a new frame with built-in lightweight shock-absorbers, which should appeal to riders on potholed streets and off-road trails. Details of the design remain a secret, because good ideas are commonly copied within a year. By then, Giant must come up with a further innovation. It is the only way to survive.

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