Une étude détaillée du marché, Continued — L’Officiel du cycle, 1 October 1955, Home and Export Figures for the Bicycle

From L’Officiel du cycle, du motocycle et du camping, 1 October 1955, N° 20, the paper’s special number before the Salon du Cycle at the Porte de Versailles, page 12: une étude détaillée du marché du cycle et du motocycle: part A, motorized two-wheelers, home market 1952 to 1954 production table, distribution of output, outlook. The customs table is transcribed in full as printed; the running text is summarized in Ebykr’s words.

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[Ebykr summary, continuing from the previous column; the article’s text is not reproduced. The figures just given apply 90 % to the territories of the Union française and very probably concern mostly machines sold to the European population of those territories.]

Perspectives d’avenir :

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. No improvement of exports is to be counted on for medium and large motorized machines, because of the increasingly marked technical superiority of British, Austrian and German construction. For the cyclomoteur and the light vélomoteur, by contrast, the author hopes for the following:]

1° Le même développement que dans la métropole des ventes aux Européens habitant l’Union française ;

2° Un commencement de vente aux populations autochtones de l’Union française, à condition que :

— le pouvoir d’achat de ces populations continue à s’améliorer,

— on leur présente des modèles robustes et rustiques, sans aucune complication mécanique,

— le service après vente soit organisé par des concessionnaires dignes de ce nom.

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. Until those conditions are met, the demand of these populations for individual means of transport will fall chiefly on the bicycle.]

3° Une prise de position du cyclomoteur français sur les marchés étrangers, conditionnée par une baisse importante de prix et accessoirement par une sûreté meilleure de fonctionnement des machines et l’organisation du service après vente.

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B. — BICYCLETTES

I. — MARCHÉ INTÉRIEUR

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. There are no exact statistics of bicycle production. It is estimated that production, which was 1,200,000 bicycles in 1939 (of which 300,000 were exported and sold on this home market, as printed), fell in 1954 to 750,000 bicycles, of which 225,000 were exported and 525,000 sold in metropolitan France. Construction is far more scattered than in the motorized trade, spread among about 450 constructors and regional wholesalers, the largest share belonging to the wholesalers (about 55 %). The erosion of the cycle market at home comes essentially from the growth of motorized machines. The market now seems level, for two reasons given as a) and b):]

a) Déboires éprouvés par les utilisateurs et néophytes du cyclomoteur, dont certains reviennent au vélo pour des raisons d’économie ;

b) Le mouvement démographique français qui amène chaque année 800.000 jeunes à l’âge du vélo, en augmentation de 250 à 300.000 sur les générations d’avant-guerre.

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. It is therefore normal to expect, despite the growth of the cyclomoteur, some expansion of the bicycle market and a very large expansion of the children’s bicycle and toy market (about 12 % a year for the next few years).]

II. — EXPORTATION

Statistique des douanes :

1952 — 1953 — 1954 extrapolation s/9 mois
Union française — 62.431 — 68.357 — 103.000
Étranger — 21.018 — 54.565 — 122.000
Ensemble — 83.449 — 122.922 — 225.000

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. The table seems to show that the foreign market for the French cycle has been in very clear expansion for three years, both in the Union française and abroad. For the foreign figures, an important market with the U.S.A. taken by three French firms must be allowed for: an artificial market, handled only through compensation operations whose continuation is, to say the least, uncertain. Without that demand, sales abroad would be seen to be falling sharply. The recovery of the French cycle abroad is tied to a fourfold effort:]

— Baisse de prix ;

— Effort publicitaire pour faire admettre la composition et les qualités du cycle purement français (dérailleur, légèreté, etc.) ;

— Effort de qualité en ce qui concerne notamment les revêtements de protection (peinture, chromage) points sur lesquels l’infériorité du cycle français est notée par les attachés commerciaux de nos ambassades ;

— Prospection commerciale active et intelligente, que la plupart des constructeurs de cycles français n’avaient pas les moyens d’entreprendre, de par leur dispersion et la faiblesse de leurs moyens financiers.

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. For the Union française, a very hard blow has been struck at the export of the French cycle, still more at that of spare parts, by the consequences of the war and the French defeat in Indochina. The more or less complete loss of that market can be made up, and well beyond, by developing markets, notably the A.O.F. Here again the effort to be made lies in five points:]

1° Baisse de prix ;

2° Robustesse et inoxydabilité des modèles ;

3° Comme pour le cyclomoteur, organisation d’un service après vente sérieux ;

4° Dans les territoires où s’affirme la prépondérance du cycle anglais (A.E.F.), effort publicitaire et technique pour imposer le cycle purement français ;

5° Si possible, organisation du crédit.

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CONCLUSIONS

[Ebykr summary, conclusions; the article’s text is not reproduced. Subject to modernization and concentration of firms, lower prices and better quality of models that this “conversion” makes possible, the outlook for the French Cycle and Motorcycle industry is presented as follows.]

Motorisés :

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. Stagnation and probable decline are expected at home and abroad for the 125 cc vélomoteur and the motorcycle. An extraordinary expansion is expected for the cyclomoteur, the light vélomoteur and the scooter on the home market, with a possibility, in a still distant future, on colonial and even foreign markets.]

Bicyclettes :

[Ebykr summary; the article’s text is not reproduced. The home market seems to have touched the “bottom” of the slump and a recovery can be hoped for, thanks notably to the favorable development of French demography. On the markets of the Union française an extraordinary expansion is to be expected, which it will fall to the interested constructors to satisfy in quality and price and so to support and prolong. On foreign markets the results to be expected depend not only on the international position of the French economy and currency (prices) but on the intelligent and growing adaptation of French constructors to the needs of those markets.]

[A full page of text only, printed in black on a toned sheet in two columns. The body is set in a plain sans-serif roman with a few bold words; section headings (B. — BICYCLETTES, I. — MARCHÉ INTÉRIEUR, II. — EXPORTATION, CONCLUSIONS) are centered in spaced sans-serif capitals, and two small black stars act as breaks. A three-column table of customs statistics with dotted leaders stands at the foot of the left column. There are no drawings, no photographs, no signature and no address.]