China’s motorcycle industry is advancing, but don’t mess with the Japanese when it comes to racing

Many industry insiders, somewhat inaccurately, have dubbed the recent edition of EICMA the “Chinese Motorcycle Show.” Inaccurately, as if it were an absolute novelty.

Over the past five years, China has steadily gained market share, establishing itself as a solid force in the sector. Now they’re aiming to stir things up in racing as well, challenging European and Japanese manufacturers.

It’s no coincidence that at EICMA, in addition to new models and hyper-sport bike concepts, the leading Chinese motorcycle manufacturers set aside space for their racing programs. From CFMOTO, which went from Rally-Raids to fielding Aspar’s bikes in the Moto2 and Moto3 World Championships, to KOVE and QJMOTOR, all the way to ZXMOTO—brands we now see actively involved in production-derived racing. KOVE recently clinched a historic world title in the now-defunct Supersport 300 and, in 2026, will renew the challenge in the brand-new Sportbike class. In Supersport we’ll see a showdown between QJMOTOR and ZXMOTO, both tied to Italian outfits (Puccetti and Evan Bros respectively).

Manufacturers from the Great Wall are thinking long-term, aiming to dominate the market within the next five years. The Japanese brands are on alert, even if sales figures are currently in their favor. In the last quarter Honda and Yamaha posted an encouraging plus sign, indicating the market is holding up. The concern, from a medium-to-long-term perspective, centers on racing.

It’s a matter of prestige and image. What will happen if, one day, Chinese competitors also start winning top-tier motorcycle competitions? MotoGP or Superbike, to be clear. At that point, the Land of the Rising Sun will have to contend with Chinese rivals on the image front as well. They’ll be hoping that a CFMOTO—perhaps the SR-RR V4 Concept from the opening photo—never ends up winning on their home turf at the Suzuka 8 Hours...

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