A snapshot of motorcycle and ATV industry share performance across key manufacturers and major global markets at the trading week closure on Friday 8 August 2025. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.
USA — WHITE HOUSE GUESSWORK
Latest survey data indicated that activity in America’s service sector was much weaker than expected, fuelling worries that the world’s biggest economy might be stalling. But typical of Team Trump, this news was simply ignored, while the President continued to inflict additional tariffs on targets which annoyed him. Then some conveniently strong Q2 corporate earnings results helped to raise confidence, boosting Wall Street investor activity.
As the weekend approached, market indices recovered, all boasting degrees of positivity. The blue-chip S&P 500 and NASDAQ’s Composite delivered best performances, rising to close respectively with 2.4% and 3.9% gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by a more modest 1.3% by Friday’s NYSE closing bell. But S&P’s MidCap 400 only crept through 0.6% up at the finish.
MidCap dunce Harley-Davidson delivered a particularly poor show after the successor to Harley’s controversial chief executive Jochen Zeitz, was announced. His replacement Artie Starrs, will take over from Zeitz on 1 October. Starr’s managerial history hardly inspired confidence among investors, previously CEO of Topgolf International, after a stint as global CEO of the Pizza Hut chain. His motorcycling experience is non-existent.
| Currency: dollar | Price | Week | Month |
| Harley-Davidson | 24.22 | +0.7% | -1.6% |
| Polaris Industries | 51.44 | +3.8% | +2.9% |
| Niu Technologies | 3.78 | +7.7% | +12.2% |
| LiveWire | 3.28 | +1.5% | -4.9% |
EUROPE — CONFIDENCE BOUNCES BACK
The EU-US trade deal proved to be much more tolerable than anticipated, and eurozone market indices reacted accordingly. Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax celebrated by finishing the week 3.1% up and the FTSE MIB in Milan did even better, rising by 4.2%. Austria’s Wiener Börse ATX topped the lot, 5.9% ahead. However, while the stocks of German and Italian motorcycle-related automotives — BMW, Volkswagen and Piaggio — prospered, recovering Austrian biker business KTM/Pierer most notably didn’t. Its share price flatlined during the week and plunged on a monthly basis.
| Currency: euro | Price | Week | Month |
| BMW | 87.44 | +6.5% | +2.2% |
| Volkswagen | 97.70 | +7% | +0.2% |
| Pierer Mobility | 16.70 | N/A | -10.9% |
| Piaggio Group | 1.95 | +3.2% | +3.7% |
JAPAN — HARSH REALITY
Tokyo and Osaka’s Nikkei 225 market index staged a modest 2.5% recovery. But the scale of tariff impacts on indigenous automotives is now being realised. Toyota is going to take the hardest hit, followed by Honda, both with big exports to the US. But Suzuki is going to escape the pain, because the vast majority of its car production and sales is through Maruti Suzuki operations in India.
| Currency: yen | Price | Week | Month |
| Honda | 1606.5 | +1.9% | +6.5% |
| Yamaha | 1080 | -2.7% | +0.3% |
| Suzuki | 1801.5 | +6.6% | +8.1% |
| Kawasaki | 10905 | -2.6% | +10.1% |
INDIA — A LESSON LEARNED?
No doubt regretting a statement that it had no plans to stop buying oil from the Russians, the full shock of US retaliation landed on India midweek. Trump issued an executive order slapping an additional 25% tariff on the New Delhi government, which he said was in response to its ongoing purchases of Russian oil. When the full range of levies take effect, many Indian-made goods will now face a total 50% tax on entering the US. These will include the huge output of iPhones for the US domestic market, which Apple has just migrated from China to India — so Trump is now laughing his orange head off at Apple too.
Mumbai stock market indices covering the BSE and NSE respectively retreated by 1% and 0.9% but are expected to slump much further in the following week. The consequences for indigenous motorcycle manufacturers, when the price of pump fuel goes ballistic, are yet to be fully discerned.
| Currency: rupee | Price | Week | Month |
| Hero MotoCorp | 4599.80 | +6.7% | +9% |
| Bajaj Auto | 8224.00 | +2.2% | +1.9% |
| TVS Motor | 2968.90 | +3.9% | +7.8% |
| Eicher Motors | 5663.00 | +2.4% | +0.9% |
| Mahindra | 3144.20 | -0.7% | +2.3% |
CHINA — KEEPING MUM
There is still no clarity about the outcome of any mooted US-China trade agreement, so it looks like Trump is saving the best (or worst) until last. However, the Chinese are still shipping a lot of goods to the US without interruption, much of these via indeterminate routes and made up of essential items and components.
So it seems very much like business as usual. In the past week, Shanghai’s SSE Composite and the CSI 300 market indices respectively grew by 2.1% and 1.2%. Nine of the ten listed Chinese motorcycle manufacturers we track added value. Only Guangzhou Auto Group, a Honda JV affiliate through its Wuyang motorcycle subsidiary, copped a minor loss.
| Currency: yuan | Price | Week | Month |
| Qianjiang | 16.69 | +4.1% | +3.2% |
| Zongshen | 24.25 | +5.3% | +5.1% |
| Sundiro | 4.68 | +3.5% | +4% |
| CETC (Jialing) | 12.69 | +2.8% | +1.9% |
| Qianli (Lifan) | 9.22 | +10.8% | +10% |
| Loncin | 13.40 | +10.2% | +1.4% |
| Linhai | 11.91 | +6.6% | +7.9% |
| Guangzhou Auto Group | 7.53 | -0.1% | -0.3% |
| CFMoto | 254.83 | +16.3% | +8.3% |
| Xinri E-Vehicle | 12.98 | +3.8% | +3% |