VOL. 51 ISSUE 26 JULY 1, 2014 P85
against AUD 11000 Down Under
($10,350) for a comparable Ka-
wasaki ER-6n – admittedly with
ABS as standard, unlike on the
Chinese. But while the CFMoto
middleweight twin is an amazing
deal on the face of it, is the extra
reassurance you get from buying
a bike Made in Japan worth twice
the price?
Quality Control
Well, that depends a lot on how
well it's made, and my tour of
CFMoto's Hangzhou factory re-
vealed a company essentially op-
erating to European standards of
manufacture.
The four vehicle assembly
lines – two each for two-wheel-
ers and four-wheelers, whether
ATVs or side-by-sides - and three
engine assembly lines operate a
zero defect policy, says the com-
pany's Marketing Director, Sa-
mantha Liu.
"If we want zero defects from
one of our products, as we do,
we realize we cannot afford to cut
corners in quality control," she
says. "Here at CFMoto we build
up to a quality level, not down to
a price, yet while still remaining
competitive pricewise in the mar-
ketplace."
The several quality control
points I noticed during a tour of
the production lines supported
that claim, especially as these
were well-worn benches, not
specially installed for my visit.
The ranks of 28 CNC machines
on the factory floor demonstrate
that one way to achieve this level
of quality is for a higher propor-
tion of the components used to
assemble each motorcycle to be
actually manufactured in house
to higher tolerance levels, rather
than brought in from outside sup-
pliers like, well, CFMoto itself
when it first started out, as is the
case elsewhere in China.
All this is part of CFMoto's far-
sighted strategy (which we can
expect more Chinese brands to
follow sooner rather than later) to
(Right) If you work at CFMoto, you
can live in one of the employee
dormitories.
"With all its products, CFMoto emphasizes
quality of manufacture, rather than low
cost, so while its bikes are well priced,
they're also well made and durable."
