Only 5 Countries Still Actually Make Motorcycles

In 1951 the largest motorcycle company on Earth was British, and its advertising claimed one in every four bikes sold carried its badge. Twenty years later that industry had all but vanished. So which countries still genuinely make motorcycles today? Not the ones building the most. India produced around 24 million two-wheelers last year and China around 20 million, but volume and engineering are two different things. This documentary sets one test, that a country designs its own engines and its own complete motorcycles and sells them worldwide across a real range, then counts down the five that pass it: Austria and KTM, the United Kingdom and Triumph, Germany and BMW Motorrad, Italy with Ducati, Aprilia and Moto Guzzi, and Japan with Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki. Along the way: why the British motorcycle industry actually collapsed and what the Trident and the Rocket 3 were up against, what really saved Harley-Davidson in the 1980s and how it's doing now, KTM's restructuring and the Bajaj takeover, and an honest look at the four contenders with a real case for inclusion. India, China, Taiwan and the United States. 0:00 The Rise and Fall of the British Motorcycle Empire 1:04 Defining What Makes a Real Motorcycle Nation 3:25 How the British Industry Lost Its Way 6:42 The Near-Death Experience of American Brands 8:28 Austria's Close Call with Financial Ruin 10:26 Triumph's Remarkable Journey from the Ashes 15:01 The Global Hierarchy of Motorcycle Manufacturing