From time to time, Panasonic bikes are derided as “toaster bikes”, referring to a product area for which the manufacturer is probably better known. In reality, however, the Japanese megacorp has been a major supplier of bikes and cycling gear since the 1960s. Since then, no less than 15 million bicycles have left its factories. In the 1970s and 80s, its bikes gained such a reputation that Panasonic became the official supplier of the Japanese cycling team for the Olympic Games.
15 Million Panasonic Bikes
Panasonic’s venture into the bike market reflects the changes and challenges of technological advances and consumer behavior over the decades. It all began with its founder, Konosuke Matsushita, who grew up in a family that ran a bike shop. In 1918, he established what would become today’s Panasonic Corporation. Its first bestseller was a battery-powered bicycle lamp.
After World War II, Konosuke Matsushita channeled his bicycle business into two subsidiaries: Panasonic Cycle Technology (founded as National Bicycle) which makes bicycles and cycling accessories, and the Panaracer Corporation (founded as National Tire), which produces tires and tubes.
As the baby boomer generation came of age in the 1970s, cycling became a popular leisure activity. During the “bike boom,” U.S. bike sales even surpassed car sales (in volume, not in sales). A decade later, the Japanese bike industry was in decline. In 1985, the Plaza Accord, a massive revaluation of the yen against the dollar, sent shockwaves through Japanese industry and forced manufacturers to outsource production to low-wage countries. Since then, Taiwan and later China have become the world’s bike workshops.
Panasonic Bikes no more
At the same time, a new type of bicycle began to eat into sales of classic touring and road bikes: the MTB, or mountain bike. While road bikes had traditionally been a stronghold of the Japanese, the MTB boom was driven primarily by U.S. manufacturers.
In 1989, founder Konosuke Matsushita died at the age of 94. Distribution of the company’s cycling products it North America was discontinued. A few years later, sales in Europe also ceased.
Today, the Osaka-based company focuses its bicycle activities on the East-Asian market. Its current bike catalog includes at least one product that bears a strong resemblance to the company’s earlier road bikes. It can be ordered in exactly the same corporate racing livery as its predecessors from 30 years ago. The lugged frame is made from a contemporary version of the Tange Prestige tubing, on which its predecessors were based too.
If you want to get a glimpse of what bike production in Japan was like back in the day: There is a promotional video from the 1980s that shows the manufacturing process at a Panasonic plant in detail. The Panasonic Virtual Bike Museum has more such memorabilia, including scans of historic sales brochures.