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Welcome to Velo Vision magazine, covering specialised bikes, cycling as transport and human power. It's a quarterly dose of cycle inspiration.The current issue is Issue 12. The next issue is out early March 2004.
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Dahon has a record yearAnd their press release contains some interesting observations about the folding bike market around the world... Without further ado, here's their press release just in: *** Record Results for Dahon in First Half of 2003: Unit volume grows 38% compared to 2002 Duarte, California, July 28, 2003 -- Dahon California, Inc., the world leader in folding bicycles, today announced record first half 2003 results. Unit volumes grew by 38% compared to the first half year of 2002. Dahon produced and sold an all time record high 90,000 folding bicycles in the first half of 2003 compared to 65,000 units in the first half of 2002. "2003 has been a difficult year for the global economy generally and the bicycle industry specifically, so for us to post these types of numbers is a credit to our strategy and our team here at Dahon." stated Dr. David Hon, Dahon president. "Folding bikes have been a tough sell in this industry for most of the 20 years that we've been at this but I think we've finally turned a corner in market perception. Dealers and consumers are finally realizing that folding bicycles have a lot of utility and fill a useful niche in the market." Dahon's sales growth in 2003 has been broad-based, across all major geographic markets and at all price points. In more developed countries, the growth has been more at the middle and high price points. In developing countries like China, the growth has been at the lower price points. "We've seen growth in all of our major markets, but the odd thing is that the reasons for the sales boom in each country are slightly different" stated Dr. Hon. "In Japan, a lot of Japanese distributors bought boat loads of cheap folding bikes in 2002 and have had lots of quality and patent problems. Now they want to switch to a higher quality supplier and that's where we come in. The same goes for the China market. In the UK, our sales have skyrocketed because of the London Congestion Charge and the attendant focus it has brought on alternative transport. And in the US, our sales spiked sharply after the bombing of September 11 - more people want to live a simpler lifestyle and others want the security of transportation that they can count on in any kind of disaster." Research by Dahon indicates that folding bicycles will eventually occupy approximately 20% of the bicycle market. In Japan, folding bicycle sales hover at about 5-7% of the market and in China and Taiwan, sales are in the single digit percentages and climbing rapidly. In Europe and the US as well, folding bicycle sales continue to rocket upward despite the flat to negative bicycle markets in those markets. "The exciting thing is that as good as 2003 was, 2004 is shaping up to be a real breakthrough year for folding bikes," stated Dr. Hon. "A few years down the road, we may all look back on 2004 as the year that folding bikes really hit the mainstream. With many economies on the upswing, the uncertainty of war and SARS over, our best product line-up ever, and several major new partners, we're expecting pretty good results." Posted on 29 July 2003 Your comments ...
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