They were saved from complete obliteration by a suddenly booming market and many of their traders willing to do deals way under the absurd list prices. Part of their problem was that the bikes had evolved to such a state that they hardly needed any dealer servicing at all. New bikes were offered cheaper by the shadow importers than what official dealers were demanding for second hand examples of the same model. Even if the guarantee on the shadow was ignored - and there was often no real reason to do that - they were still a better bet than some used tackle that had maybe been run into the ground by its past owner(s).
I suspect it wasn't even the success of the shadow importers, nor even of the four grand (street price) 600 Bandit, that caused the Japanese to get their act together. Much more likely was the worrying avalanche of new companies getting in on the motorcycle manufacturing game. Everywhere you look some new company seems ready to launch their version of a modern motorcycle, usually V-twins or singles. Some of these companies, like Canadian jet-ski manufacturer Polaris, are extremely large, others like French Voxan are small, but the only reason they are able to launch their bikes in the market is because the Japanese are charging two to three times more than is really necessary for many of their new motorcycles. The economies of scale enjoyed by the Big Four but rarely passed on to the poor old consumer.
The actual retail cost of most motorcycles bears little relationship to the manufacturing cost. Along with technological advances that cut out a lot of the tiresome development work, the disparity between production and retail costs has made any number of new enterprises viable. OK, a few of them are vapourware, doing the old con on the money men to raise a pile of dosh and disappear into the ether to live happily ever after but the vast majority are the real thing. Not to ignore the fact that established European companies are reinventing themselves, new models from Laverda, Ducati, Aprilia, Cagiva and our own Triumph, amongst others, ready and willing to do battle.
Whilst it's unlikely that any company is going to come close to the sheer finesse of Japanese production engineering, clever and inspired design can give them an edge by removing the need, to a large degree, for such finesse. Just look at the lines and design of the Hunwick Hallan, an Oz V-twin of impressive styling and engineering to see what they are up against. Faced with such a possible onslaught, from new and established companies, it comes as no surprise that the Japanese are starting to go back to basics, with cheap yet sophisticated and powerful designs that no-one, anywhere, can compete with on price.
This is nothing new to anyone who has been watching the scene for a few decades. The British industry was eventually killed off because the Japanese combined much superior technology with reasonable prices. It's only because there has, until of late, been no effective competition in Europe that the Japanese have got away with charging such absurd prices for their wares and ignored the basic tenet of creative capitalism completely - that is, if you have a product that is a world beater you lower the price year after year, and not, as the Japs have consistently done, imposed stupid year on year increases.
The problem for the European companies is that having spent a decade making huge profits the cash rich Japanese factories can now afford to decimate the competition, which has based its profitability on the chimera of last year's prices (or even on the hope that the usual silly increases would prevail this year) and suddenly find themselves in a rather different marketplace, as predicted (sort of) a year or so ago by the UMG.
And the Japanese haven't even really got into their stride yet, still burdening their bikes with an excess of discs and carbs, expensive and short-lived tyres, frames that aren't really integrated with the engine. Styling, handling, performance and reliability are all well sussed, though. The 600 Bandit started the game, though overweight it was well developed from a decade old design and relatively cheap. The new 600 Hornet takes the CBR600 engine and bungs it into the Jap market 250 Hornet's chassis to produce a totally modern motorcycle, one that weighs a mere 380Ibs. Likely to be the best seller in '98 as long as the street price is nearer four grand than five. Yamaha's 600 Fazer's a development of their 400 model, using the 600 Thundercat motor but at 420Ibs is hopelessly overweight for a modern bike - they would have been much better off turning their 600 Divvie into a light, torque filled 900. Priced at nearly five grand it's unlikely to worry either Honda or Suzuki, but the discounters will have some fun with it.
The Japs aren't having it all their way. Ducati slashing some prices on their suddenly tired looking line up and other European companies sucking their fingers in horror at what's going down. It comes as absolutely no surprise that one of the few companies to survive the onslaught of cheap Japanese motorcycles in the past (admittedly with the temporary help of government tariffs) chose 1998 to introduce a cheap (as in five grand) Harley 883 to the UK market, though, again, why we've had to suffer a huge difference in prices between the UK and USA for three decades is hard to fathom. Though burdened with a hopelessly antique engine (mainly because that's what Yank customers demand) the Harley offers, much as a cheap Triumph triple would, a radically different riding experience to anything the Japs can summon - and given the madness of our police, hidden cameras and massive speeding fines - being limited to 80mph (effectively, by the vibes and handling) ain't perhaps as bad as it sounds.
Contrast that to Triumph who are still out to lunch with regards to the lower end of the market. The new Triumph Thunderbird Sport would've been ideal except that it's three grand over the odds, 100Ibs too heavy and burdened with the usual silly excess of discs and carbs. At the moment they ain't worried, with the success of the new T595 bringing in loads of dosh, but once the Japanese extend their new found philosophy of cheap yet sophisticated bikes to the upper end of the motorcycle market all kind of carnage may emerge. Having said that, Triumph, and possibly BMW, are the only European companies I can see surviving the coming onslaught.
For the next few years expect cheap new bikes without having to deal with unofficial importers. This will make used bikes even cheaper on the private market, and probably wreck large sections of the grey import game. Already, a number of dealers are grumbling about the cheapness of the new 600s, making their overpriced second hand stuff seem totally ridiculous but given the number of the new 600s they are likely to shift they will probably bear the loss and keep quiet. Dare the UMG suggest that it might not be a bad time to buy a new motorcycle?
Bill Fowler