General News
23 June, 2020
Quad bike sales jump before ban
Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Polaris have all announced their intent to stop exporting quad bikes to Australia.
Last year The Federal Government introduced new regulations in response to an ACCC report outlining the risk of quad bikes rolling over and crushing riders.
Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Polarisall have now all announced they will stop selling quad bikes in Australia from October next year due to new standards, which requires all quad bikes to be fitted with rollover protection at point of sale by October 2021.
Motorbike retailers across Queensland are now struggling to source quad bikes as consumers stock up before new regulations come into effect next year.
Owner of Tableland Bikes and Power Equipment in Mareeba Clint Tilse says that Honda has sold out “They (Honda) now have a back order of around 450 bikes and they can only import 30 – 40 bikes per month”
Mr Tilse said it’s not just the loss of sales of that is going to hurt his business.
“Last year I sold about 80 quad bikes, I don’t make much money on the sales of Quads. It’s when people bring their quad bike back in for a service or parts or repairs is when we make our money,” he said
“It’s not how much the ban will affect me next year, but how much it’s going to affect me for the next 10 to 20 years.
“We are still seeing quads coming back in for a service 10 years after we sold them. So that’s now 80 quads a year that I won’t be seeing come through my workshop.”
Mr Tilse understands why Honda is pulling out “Australia is the only country requiring these rollover bars and we make up less than 1 per cent of Honda’s quad bike market, so why would they bother”?
Sam Best from Extreme Motorcycles in Atherton is a Polaris dealer and she claims it’s not just going to hurt their business.
“Being a local small business (Polaris pulling out of Australia) is going to hurt us, but it’s also hurting small farmers. There are some local Mango and Avocados farmers who need quads to spray their crop but side by sides are too big to get around their property.
“The same for rounding up cattle, you wouldn’t want to be rounding up large feral bulls on a motorbike”
Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar who announced the new regulations on behalf of the Federal government in 2019 said.
“Quad bikes are the leading cause of fatalities in Australia of all consumer products that aren’t regulated,” he said
“This safety standard aims to address the high risk of rollovers, which is especially important for many of our farmers and their families who use these vehicles daily.
“Since 2001, 230 people have been killed on quad bikes. About 60 per cent of all quad bike accidents are caused by roll-over”
The news isn’t all bad for primary produces as one quad bike manufacture has said that they are in the Australian quad bike market for the long haul by making rollover safety equipment standard on their range.
CF Moto have released a new 400cc model which complies with new mandatory safety standards.
CFMoto's Australian distributor, Mojo Motorcycles, said the entire CFMoto quad bike range would be updated to meet the requirements of stage 2 of the Consumer Goods (Quad Bike) Safety Standard by next October.
