Germany – The Bicycle Country

By:

Dr D Kebschull

"India could learn a lesson or two from its tiny, (only in land area) but vibrant competitor, Taiwan, which has made huge strides in the European bicycle industry, with a market share of 10 per cent in comparison to India’s puny 1 per cent, last year."

For the first time after 1995 the intake of bicycle in Germany crossed the five million marks level in 2000. But in 2001, the industry showed a slight down trend. According to ZIV, the association of two-wheeler industry, the domestic production plus imports minus exports of bicycles were to the tune of 4.5 million.

The Eastern European countries have dramatically increased their share in total German market from 24 per cent to 44 per cent in the last five years whereas the Asian countries could only maintain their share at 27 per cent. In fact, the year 2001, was especially not so good for the Asians. Their share fell from 33 percent to 27 per cent. Till 2000, Taiwan was the largest exporter of bicycles to Germany, supplying 450,000 bicycles. Poland and Lithuania supplied approximately 375,000 and 220,000 pieces to occupy the second and third place. The European Union members, the Netherlands and Italy occupy the next two places with 215,000 and 200,000 bicycles.

 

Dr D Kebschull

Director

Indo-German Export

Promotion Project (IGEP)

But in 2001, the scenario changed with Poland becoming the number one exporter to Germany supplying 360,000 bicycles (with a 8 per cent share). Taiwan slipped to the second place by supplying 315,000 pieces (7 per cent). Lithuania occupied the third place supplying 270,000 bicycles (6 per cent) beating Italy and the Netherlands. Both the European Union nations had a share of 3 per cent each supplying 135,000 pieces respectively.

Population of Bicycle in Germany

(quantity in million units)

Composition of German Market in 2001 Types of Bicycles sold in 2001

The domestic production has also risen during the last year. This is considered to be an achievement, underlining the efficiency of the German producers, who are facing price-aggressive competition from their counterparts in Eastern Europe and Asia.

The trend in 2001 was clearly in favour of specialised bicycles with suspension elements, aluminum framework and improved & specialised brake system. On the popularity scale the biggest category of bicycle sold were the trekking bikes and city bikes. Trekking bikes had a share of 25 per cent, as in 2000. The city bike could increase its share by 1 per cent to reach 25 per cent. ATBs and MTBs, which were the most preferred bikes in former years, had a share of 19 and 17 per cent respectively.