The 2019 edition of the Suzuki International Series
again attracted massive interest from overseas,
with large crowds flocking to the public streets of
Whanganui for the series finale on Boxing Day.
“For the future, we will work within our
budgets to support motorcycle racing to the
best of our ability. Exactly how this translate
into event sponsorship and satellite team
support has yet to be decided,” said Meade.
Suzuki’s introduction of the GIXXER Cup competition
at the end of 2017 was pure inspiration and another
great example of how the company has been
serving the sport and the wider bike community.
First created by Suzuki New Zealand in December
2017 with the aim of providing a starting place and
a pathway towards “growing future champions”,
the GIXXER Cup class was slotted into the
Suzuki International Series programme and it
immediately proved to be a runaway success.
Many of the young riders who had their first taste
of motorcycle road-racing with the inaugural
GIXXER Cup contest in 2017 are now out on
the track and racing in some of the bigger bike
classes – Formula Two and Formula Three, for
example – and it probably won’t be long before
the momentum takes a few of them on through
to the elite superbike ranks in years to come.
HONDA CELEBRATES 400
MILLION BIKES
H
onda has ended the 2019 year with a new
milestone, with the Japanese manufacturer
producing its 400,000,000th motorcycle to
cap off its 70th year producing bikes in style.
Honda was founded in 1948, with the mass
production of motorcycles at its first factory
outside of Japan beginning in Belgium in 1963. Since
then, Honda has expanded its global production
in accordance with its fundamental principle of
making motorcycles locally to supply demand,
with 35 production facilities in 25 countries
across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.
What makes the milestone impressive is it
comes just five years after Honda built its 300
millionth bike. That’s 100,000,000 more Honda’s
out in the wild in just five years, and to put
that in perspective, it took Honda until 1997 to
produce 100,000,000 bikes for the first time.
“For 70 years Honda has provided to
customers worldwide motorcycles that
make life easier and enjoyable”, says Honda
Motor Co CEO Takahiro Hachigo.
“As a result, we have achieved our 400
million-unit milestone. I am grateful to all
of our customers, and everyone involved in
development, manufacturing, sales and service
of our products. We will continue to do our best
to provide attractive products that meet the
needs and dreams of customers worldwide.”
HONDA’S MOTORCYCLE PRODUCTION MILESTONES
1968 – 10 million units 2008 – 200 million units
1984 – 50 million units 2014 – 300 million units
1997 – 100 million units 2018 – 20 million units annual
motorcycle production
2004 – 10 million units annual
motorcycle production
22 KIWI RIDER
2019 – 400 million units