An Amusement & Diversion for The Genteel Cyclist. Daily.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Bicycle Production Outpaces Car


Perusing The Economist it was noticed that bicycle production has outpaced vehicle production since about 1950. And that's no lower intestinal tract inflammation. The story goes on to indicate bicycle production has approximately quadrupled since 1970 while vehicle production has merely doubled.

FAT-BUSTING but not wallet-busting, the humble bicycle is an increasingly popular choice of transport. Around 130m bikes rolled off production lines in 2007 and even more are set to be made this year. Bicycle and car production grew pretty much in tandem in the two decades beginning in 1950. But since 1970 bike production has nearly quadrupled while car production has roughly doubled. Much of the recent growth has been driven by electric bikes; production has doubled since 2004, to 21m.


What does this all mean? Draw your own conclusions. But it appears more people are “getting it.”

5 comments:

Jeff Moser said...

Sure, people are buying them. Getting them to ride them is a different story. Many are sitting in garages with flat tires from lack of use. Not so with cars. Most people who buy them, use them.

There will come a day though...

Pinchie said...

Interesting. The stats I've seen suggest that it's not so much that more people are buying bikes, it's that the people who already own bikes are buying MORE bikes. I.E. you and me and everyone we know. Hence the big bike companies urging us to upgrade, to buy a new stock fixie, a free-ride monster etc.

Granted those stats I was looking at were from last year, and kinda pre-Depression. I think LOTS of people bought first-time adult bikes with their stimulus checks in May/June, for the express purpose of parking the car more often.

Jeff Moser said...

I'm guilty of buying several bikes for different purposes; however, I've enacted a "cap and trade" program. I sell riding "credits" to those who don't ride, and ride the miles that they were thinking about riding. So as long as I ride a whole bunch everyday, I can offset their not riding, and they don't have to feel guilty. It's a beautiful system .

Anonymous said...

Bycicles have a much broader consumer base than cars.

Back out all bicycle sales except those related to commuting and how impressive would bike sales be? How much has that number gone up vs car sales? Those are the only numbers that matter in such a comparison. The rest is like saying that the sales of Xbox have increased at a greater rate than the sales of airplanes.

JS II said...

I have begun a new organization called "MAC"--Motorists Against Cyclists. I'm not against cyclists as individuals--just the ones who hog the road and create dangerous situations. I'm serious. And I'm sorry--I don't want my tax money paying for bike paths.