People gathered around a Voge motorcycle during the 24th China International Motorcycle Trade Exhibition, which closed in Chongqing on September 22. (Photo/Chongqing Daily)

Chongqing - The motorcycle exhibition that closed in Chongqing days ago drew crowds and 420 million U.S. dollars in intended orders. At its matchmaking session, more than 110 international buyers met over 200 Chinese companies in 495 one-on-one meetings built around 133 purchasing needs. Now comes the harder part: turning handshakes into deals.

Chongqing's motorcycle industry is trying to move from building machines for other companies' brands to selling abroad under its own name, and access certification is the gate to cross.

In many international markets, approval to sell a vehicle is issued to the entity that places it under its own name. That applicant registers a World Manufacturer Identifier, submits the complete vehicle technical file, and accepts a factory production conformity audit. The United States requires EPA certification. Europe requires E/e-mark whole-vehicle type approval, issued by one member state's authority and valid across the Union.

Yet, a plant built under another company's name, or an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), cannot file in its own name. No matter how capable its manufacturing is. 

Approval decides the commercial terms. Under contract manufacturing, the overseas distributor picks the market and sets the price, capturing most of the profit. Without its own name, a factory can only compete on price.

The gap between scale and revenue shows what the industry has cost in aggregate. The China Chamber of Commerce for Motorcycles' annual industry figures put 13.37 million motorcycles exported in 2025 at an average of about 662 U.S. dollars per unit. On UN Comtrade customs data for the same year, Japan averaged 5,110 U.S. dollars per unit and Germany 12,907.

And that huge gap is what Chongqing manufacturers try to tap into. The Chongqing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology reports the city built 7.776 million motorcycles in the first eight months of 2026, up 50.5 percent, one of every three made in China.

Some brands have already moved beyond the old OEM playbook. 

VOGE is the premium brand Loncin Motor launched in 2018 and took to Milan in 2019. Registration data from MotorCycles Data put its 2025 global sales near 100,000 units, with more than half in Europe. KOVE, founded in 2017, lists distributors across Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, Asia and Oceania.

ZXMOTO is the newest entrant. Founded in April 2024 by Zhang Xue after leaving KOVE, the brand has gained popularity after its success in the Superbike World Championship. It finally won its first EU whole-vehicle type approval in August 2026 for the ZX500RR-A3 sportbike, certified in Luxembourg.

Now, more plants are encouraged to build their own brands and certifications. As a snapshot, a small manufacturer from Hechuan, Chongqing, BNAIKI Motorcycle, is moving up the value chain.

Chongqing BNAIKI Motorcycle Industry Group was founded in January 2021, and it builds off-road leisure motorcycles and still advertises OEM private-label production and ODM custom development. 

Huang Zhengxin, who heads the brand, put the small brand struggle plainly: "When we did contract manufacturing, those certificates belonged to someone else." 

Now, Huang plans to spend about 10 million yuan (about 1.49 million U.S. dollars) on global certification for eight models next year.

Manufacturers like BNAIKI will be fighting an uphill battle. Zhu Di, who heads certification at the National Motorcycle Quality Inspection and Testing Center in Tianjin, says approval for the United States and Europe goes far beyond submitting a passing sample. 

Zhang Hongbo, secretary-general of the China Chamber of Commerce for Motorcycle, said meeting regulatory requirements is no longer a one-time hurdle before entering a market. Manufacturers must maintain compliance throughout a motorcycle’s life cycle, from production audits and annual model certification to oversight after the bike is sold.

Chongqing, where a large share of Chinese exports sit, will help small manufacturers like BNAIKI. Wang Han, a deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology, said Chongqing will study approval standards in key markets, improve export logistics, and push mutual recognition between local testing bodies and overseas issuing agencies.