Report From Japan
REPORT FROM JAPAN
W.B.SWIM
THE FIM-affiliated Motorcycling Federation of Japan (MFJ) has announced an extensive 1963 racing schedule of moto-cross and road racing events. The big news for Japan, of course, is the FIM sanctioning of a provisional Grand Prix at the new Suzuka Circuit on Nov. 9 and 10, 1963. The MFJ has authorized each of its eight districts in Japan to put on one or more amateur road races for the first time. Races will be held in 50cc, 125cc, 250cc and 350cc classes from April until August. Winners in the district road races will be eligible to enter the MFJsponsored three-day All-Japan Amateur Road Race in early September.
Some of the best news for motorcycle enthusiasts here recently is that Honda’s star Japanese rider, Kunimitsu Takahashi, who was seriously injured in a nasty spill in the Isle of Man T.T. last year, has recovered and is practicing at Suzuka Circuit. He definitely will ride in this year’s Grand Prix races.
His tragic high-speed spill in the IOM knocked him out for the rest of the 1962 season, and it was feared that he might never be able to ride again. Spectators and other riders said at the time it was a miracle he wasn’t killed.
Even being knocked out in the third race of the season, Takahashi copped 4th in world rankings in the 125cc class in 1962 with 16 points racked up by winning both of the first two Grand Prix races, Spain and France. He also had come in second in the 50cc race at the French Grand Prix.
Japanese motorcycle makers foresee a further drop in motorcycle sales here this year. The peak year—the year when the 50cc sales rocketed into orbit—was 1961, when sales in Japan averaged more than 140,000 per month. Last year local sales dropped to the 120,000 monthly level, and top manufacturing executives gloomily predict a further drop this year.
The president of one of Japan’s Big Four, declining to be quoted by name, told CYCLE WORLD his company expects a monthly average of around 100,000 this year. Everyone, however, expects this drop to be offset pretty well by steadily rising exports, mainly to the United States.
Mighty Honda took a bad spill on a new model and lost nearly 1,000,000,000 yen (that’s close to $3,000,000). Foreseeing hard times in local 50cc sales, with the market about saturated, Honda decided what was needed was a 50cc selling for less than 40,000 yen ($111.00), bought materials, tuned up the production line and started rolling out a cheap version of the popular Honda Cub called the Honda Port Cub (Honda 50 Light, overseas) in June.
Dealers, who the company offered a 6.000 yen ($16) mark-up, refused to touch the new model, however, unless they got 10,000 yen profit per machine. So the original 39,000 yen price was upped to 43,000 yen. This proved to be too close to the Honda Sports Cub tag of
55.000 yen and the buyers stayed away in droves. Although the factory turned out 1,396 Port Cubs in June, 10,171 in July and 18,455 in August, buyers in Tokyo, Japan’s best motorcycle center, registered only 31 in July, 131 in August and 151 in September.
By February only around 12,000 of the
55.000 produced had been sold, and dealers were stuck with about 31,500 on their hands. The company lowered the price to the dealer by 5,000 yen, but some dealers were advertising the Port Cub for 32,000 yen ($88). Exports began to Malaya and Singapore in January, but none of this cheap model will be sent to the United States, a Honda spokesman told CYCLE WORLD. The company, stuck with materials for the Port Cub, will turn out another 10,000 to 15,000.
Honda in 1962 became the first motorcycle maker to turn out more than 1,000,000 machines in a year.
Final 1962 production figures came to 1,009,487, a Honda spokesman told CYCLE WORLD. Honda’s Suzuka factory, where the 50cc machines are made, turns out eight every minute when running at full throttle, or nearly 4,000 during an eight-hour shift.
Suzuki put two new models on the market in Japan Feb. 1, the 50cc M12 Sports and 80cc Kll Sports. Both are being exported to the United States, with the first delivery to arrive in late March. The 50cc bike has 5 hp @ 8,000 rpm, 4 gears and a top speed of 52 mph. The 41mm X 38mm bore and stroke give a torque of 0.45 @ 7,000. The 80cc Sports machine has 4 speeds, a top of 60 mph and gives 7.3 hp @ 7,000 rpm. Bore and stroke are 45mm X 50mm and torque is rated at 0.75 @ 6,000. Both new machines have kick starters.
A Suzuki spokesman told CYCLE WORLD these new models were made for export, but after they were shown at the Tokyo Motor Show the demand here was so great that the company decided to sell them in Japan as well. Local prices are $165 for the 50cc and $214 for the 80cc model. •
