Taiwan and China roll in as Japanese ATV makers pull pin

Honda, Yamaha and other quad bike manufacturers’ threats to pull out of the Australian market have left a huge hole in supplies that Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers are rushing to fill.

Taiwanese giant TGB’s Blade quad bike is just one of many that will be fitted with operator protection devices by October.

TAIWANESE and Chinese quad bike manufacturers are piling into the Australian market, ready to fill the gap left by the withdrawal of their Japanese and North American rivals.

Motoring giants Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki and Canada’s Can Am have declared they will pull their quad bikes out of the Australian market rather than meet new federal laws demanding all new quad bikes be fitted with operator protection devices from October.

The threat has been widely seen as bid to drive dealers and farmers into pressuring the Federal Government to dump the new safety laws, which were drafted by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries quad bike manager Mark Collins said the threat was “not a bluff” and the companies would be withdrawing.

Just last week Suzuki sent out a bulletin to dealers halting the sale of all its quad bikes, although national manager Lewis Croft refused to reveal why.

In the meantime Chinese and Taiwanese quad bike manufacturers see their rivals’ withdrawal as a huge opportunity, allowing them to strike deals with Australian distributors to roll out their quad bikes to local dealers, with the promise all will be fitted with OPDs by October.

OPD-fitted CF MOTO quad bikes, manufactured in China, are already sitting in local dealers’ yards.

Taiwanese giant TGB has just released five models, which local distributor Gary Olsen said would be fully compliant with the new federal OPD laws.

“When a lot of other manufacturers have decided to bail from the safety requirements for Australia, TGB is committed to providing a quality ATV at an affordable price while fully complying with the new ACCC safety regulations,” Mr Olsen said.

Even global scooter maker Segway is exploiting the opportunity, launching its first quad bike in Australia this week, with a powerful new petrol-electric hybrid due to be rolled out in June.

“We have every intention of fitting OPDs by October,” Segway Powersports Australia distributor Joseph Elasmar said.

Japanese giant Yamaha has tried to stop the new wave of quad bikes, threatening to cancel its dealers’ franchises last October if they sold CF MOTO quad bikes fitted with OPDs.

US giant Polaris also issued a bulletin at the time warning its dealers not to take on any new quad bike brands, stating: “before a dealer can take on a franchise to sell any new quad bikes, it needs to obtain Polaris’ written consent”.

Polaris has responded to the new safety laws by dumping its quad bike range and gambling on farmers buying its side-by-side vehicles instead.

The ACCC has previously warned there has been an increase in incidents involving side-by-side vehicles, following seven deaths in 2019, among children and drivers, many of who failed to wear their vehicle’s seat belts.