Bicycles, Italian excellence: with the towing of ebikes, the aim is to exceed revenues of 1.8 billion
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The bicycle is no longer a simple product, but a real technological ecosystem that goes beyond the simple frame and two wheels: a platform that represents a key tool of sustainable mobility and tourism, a concentration of innovation that also develops in apps and software of all kinds for tracking, travel, performance and knowledge of the territories. A means that becomes ideal for the relaunch of the Italian heritage of beauty and culture, driving a rapidly growing tourist market with evident industrial repercussions.
To date, with over 3.2 million pieces manufactured, Italy is the leading European bicycle manufacturer, with a market share of 21% and a positive balance between exports and imports of 1.3 million pieces, in growth of 23% in 2021. In the three-year period 2021-2023 Banca Ifis in its second report on the “bicycle ecosystem” forecasts an increase in production of over 7% year on year, driven by the e-bike at a more than triple rate, around at 25%. The increase in demand also continues to support revenues with an average annual growth in producers’ turnover which should reach 7.3% in the two-year period 2022-2023, at the end of which it could exceed 1.8 billion euros. The bicycle therefore becomes a tool that satisfies a growing market need for smart mobility, with an approach to enhancing the Italian territories in the name of sustainability.
A concentrate of technology
«From an industrial point of view, the bicycle – and the e-bike in particular – is increasingly a concentrate of technology: from this point of view, our country has various excellences. It is a question of recovering existing manual skills by combining them with technological skills, giving life to new digital bicycle artisans», claims Carmelo Carbotti, head of the Banca Ifis Research Department, an institute that focuses decisively on small and medium-sized artisan enterprises and which he sees in the bicycle one of the focal tools of expansion. That the hospitality-tourism sector can act as a driving force is confirmed by the growth of bike-friendly hotels, those that rely on the bicycle as a tool to attract new customers, grew by three hundred units in 2022 to a total of 4,855. To which are added 800 operators specialized in bike rental.
Towing the ebikes
The other side of the coin is the industrial front, driven by assisted pedaling: the ebike is expanding the potential public and is growing at a faster rate than the traditional bike, covering 14% of production compared to 11% in 2021. The latest years have highlighted a supply chain and supply problem, starting a clear trend towards reshoring, the return of production to Europe. Banca Ifis estimates that the manufacture of 2.8 million bicycles a year will return to Europe, with an acceleration in the two-year period 2022-2023, corresponding to 18% of total European production. Italy starts with artisanal, industrial and technological excellence that must be integrated. Only in this way will it be possible to overcome this challenge in the face of already well-positioned competitors such as Portugal and Germany on the one hand, and the Eastern European countries with lower labor costs on the other.
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