KIWI RIDER 01 2020 VOL1 | Page 22

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