Bicycles: an Italian brand came to compete in the high-end

The rage for bicycles does not stop and new international brands come to the country to assemble several models. Two in the main the American Specialized and the Swiss Scottthey already have their own plants where they ship units, that prices can exceed the cheapest 0 km cars.

Today, Italian Benelli closed a deal with the Iraola group to locally produce about 5,000 medium and high-end bikes this year, Facundo Lippo, the company’s sales director, told Clarín.

The bicycle market is highly fragmented and controversial for 25 great armorwhere Dalsanto (Raleigh and KTM), Vairo, Osfrei (Zenith and Pivot), Aurora, Olmo, Newsan (Battle and Philco) and a diverse network of wholesalers, distributors and approximately 5,000 small workshops and bicycle shops in the neighborhood. In Argentina, approximately 1 million units are sold each year. The price range is wide, but premiums are worth between $ 500,000 and $ 2.5 million.

The pandemic fueled the demand for bicycles and now, along with motorcycles, they are forming another mode of transportation in the city. Lippo said Benelli’s strategy is to gradually install the brand in the country. “The idea is to move forward with developing new products for triple the volume over the next 5 years“, he pointed out. At high range he can compete against Specialized and Scott.

The two have had armories in Argentina in just over a year and along with the Trek and Cannondale, they are comparable to the Audi or BMW of the automotive industry. Despite this, they describe to the market that the average user of a high-end bicycle is not someone with a high income. “In general, it was a very strict public that decided to invest in something that was a craving,” they said.

“We started in 2021 with 8,500 units and we plan to close the year with 11,000,” said Fernando Ferreira, local manager of Specialized. The purpose of the brand is to supply the domestic market from its plant in Garín and export to Chile and Uruguay. Strictly speaking, the company will develop the frames and wheels and the other parts (gears, brakes and sprocket, among others) will be supplied by the Japanese stature manufacturer Shimano.

Scott’s license remained in the hands of the La Emilia group, which makes Motomel and Suzuki motorcycles at its plant in the town of the same name in the province of Buenos Aires. This is not something strange. Bicycles and motorcycles are close relatives. Javier Mosca, director of the area, recalled that they inaugurated this business unit at the end of 2019 and they are adding models every year. “In 2021 there were 7 and we projected double the amount by 2022“, He says.

Interest in bicycles was reborn during the quarantine period. Demand has overheated around the world, that is nasuffocated the supply of major components for the assembly of new units and for the reconditioning of those not used for a long time. “The market is starting to regulate, but there are still shortcomings, especially in the high-end range,” Lippo explains.

Large plants, located mainly in China, Taiwan and Malaysia, cannot cope with global warming demand. The fact is that with circulation restrictions, something that has happened in many of the world’s major cities, the bicycle (like motorcycles) has been integrated as the ideal means of transportation in the pandemic. The big hurdle is the massive distortion of prices, production and shipping of goods due to the pandemic.

Regarding this aspect, Mosca insists that the main plants have a 2-year waiting list. “I have orders until 2024“, he stressed. Added to these difficulties are the rising cost of logistics.” International freight is causing inflation around the world. The cost of moving the container has multiplied by 5 over the past two yearsLippo was crying.

The fashion of bicycles is attracting the interest of the Fuegian group Newsan, which has entered the business with two brands. On the one hand, it introduced the Chinese Battle, to compete in the mid-range and also with Philco, which it used for several lines of household goods. Now the company is gathering approximately 100,000 units per year for their own brands and also for third parties.