Sources : AMD , IDN , FT , Reuters , PSB , MPN , B & B , BDN , MCN , AP , Bloomberg , MSNW , Electrek , electricmotorcycles . news , RideApart . com , Motor1 . com
BRIEFS
Following the 2017 withdrawal of its signature from the planned ( and at that stage agreed ) Trans-Pacific Partnership ( TPP ), the United States ( and its NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico ) have been left on the sidelines looking in as the ASEAN nations and five other Asia-Pacific countries have forged a new , expanded trading bloc . The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ( RCEP ) represents one of the largest ever international trade deals and covers a third of the world ' s consumers and economic output . It is the first trade agreement to bring China , Japan and South Korea together and could add almost $ 200bn annually to the global economy by 2030 . RCEP combines most of the existing agreements signed by the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN ) - Brunei , Cambodia , Indonesia , Laos , Malaysia , Myanmar , the Philippines , Singapore , Thailand and Vietnam - and combines them into a single multilateral pact with Australia , China , Japan , New Zealand and South Korea . India has not initially joined the deal but is thought likely to add its trading horsepower as the world ' s largest English speaking market to the deal at some stage in the next decade .
K & K Promotions , Inc ., the brand that owns the intellectual property rights of famed motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel , has filed a lawsuit in federal court against The Walt Disney Company , Pixar , and other Disney-related entities , alleging trademark infringement and violations of K & K ' s rights of publicity . In 2019 , Disney Pixar released Toy Story 4 , featuring a major new toy character named " Duke Caboom ," voiced by Keanu Reeves . The character is a 1970s-era motorcycle-riding toy stuntman . The complaint alleges the Disney character is an unlawful knockoff of the classic and newly re-released Ideal Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle toy of the 1970s .
The Spanish motorcycle market was down by -13.57 % ( 142,563 units sold ) for the period January to November 2020 as the ' second wave ' of COVID-19 started to affect showroom traffic and general economic activity there . Honda is market share leader in Spain , followed by Yamaha and Kymco . For the year to date 2020 , electric twowheelers took 4.7 % of the market in Spain ( 6,703 units ).
Harley Looks Set To Go Ahead with the Chinese Made , Benelli Derived 338R By Ben Purvis
Having forged a deal with Chinese firm Zhejiang Qianjiang , parent of Benelli , Keeway , Generic and the newly-launched QJMotor brand , Harley-Davidson has been quietly working on a Chinese-made , smallcapacity model for more than a year . Despite the upheaval following the departure of H-D CEO Matt Levatich in early 2020 and a wholesale change of plans introduced by his replacement , Jochen Zeitz , the project appears to remain on track for a 2021 launch . When Harley first announced the project in 2019 , the firm showed two sketches of the new machine . However , more recently , design patent drawings have emerged showing precisely what it will look like . The designs confirm that the frame , swingarm , forks and engine design are the same as the Qianjiangmade Benelli 302S , but it loses the Sino-Italian machine ' s rather nondescript styling in favor of a flat track-inspired shape . The 338R ' s planned 338 cc capacity appears to come from using the short 45.2 mm stroke from the Benelli 302S ' s 300 cc parallel twin combined with the 69 mm bore from the same firm ' s larger 500 cc model . Since Harley announced its project , Qianjiang has announced another model based on the same mechanical components - the QJMotor SRK 350 , which features a 353 cc version of the same engine thanks to the 45.2 mm stroke and an even larger 70.5 mm bore . Early prototypes of the SRK 350 even featured the words ' Harley-Davidson Motor Company ' cast into the engine covers . The similarities between the three machines - Benelli ' s 302S , QJMotor ' s SRK 350 and Harley ' s 338R - mean we can take an educated guess at its weight and performance . Both the 300 cc and 353 cc engines made around the same power - 38 hp - although the larger motor peaks at 9,000 rpm and the smaller one at 11,000 rpm . The 338 cc Harley is likely to split the difference . Weight will be around 180 kg . The small parallel twin is intended not for the West , but as a means to bring the Harley name to customers in developing markets around Asia . By
putting a low-cost Harley onto those markets , the idea was that as riders there become more affluent , the firm ' s more luxurious offerings will pick up sales . Although Zeitz has overturned much of Levatich ' s ambitious ' More Roads to Harley-Davidson ' plan for the future , canceled the water-cooled Bronx streetfighter that was shown in late 2019 , and pulled the brand out of 39 markets to refocus on Harley ' s core products , elements of Levatich ' s scheme have survived . The 1,250 cc water-cooled Pan America adventure bike , for instance , and the similarly engined but as yet unnamed custom bike that was previewed in 2018 , have survived the cull . At the moment , it seems that the 338R has also remained on track , perhaps because its development was already well advanced when
Design patent filing for the new QJ-built 338 R
Though heavily borrowing from QJ ' s Benelli designs , this appears to be an early closeup picture of a 338R prototype
Zeitz took the reins . Asked about the small displacement bike during Harley ' s Q2 earnings presentation , he deflected the question , saying : " As I said , we would like to reveal our products much closer to actual launch . And whether and when we are going to launch specific products is not something that I would like to elaborate on right now . We will provide further detail in the fourth quarter . At this point , there ' s really nothing new to say about that ." However , investor- relations documents from the latest presentation still list " the Company ' s ability to … develop and maintain a productive relationship with Zhejiang Qianjiang Motorcycle Co ., Ltd . and launch related products in a timely manner " as an important factor in the firm ' s future results .
12 AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - JANUARY 2021 www . AMDchampionship . com