Ural is reporting today an 11% sales growth for Q1 over the same period from the record year of 2012.

“It’s been a very long winter for the most part of the country, not surprisingly 75% of our sales during these months were models with on-demand 2WD, which is known for all-weather and snow capability,” says Madina Merzhoeva, Ural’s Vice President. “Sales were up every month of Q1, but March turned out to be a bit more challenging. We’ve set ourselves an aggressive 30% growth goal for 2013. It has been a slower start than expected, so we are turning up our marketing and sales efforts. We still intend to meet the goal.”

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Kawasaki reported a 8.7% decrease in motorcycle sales over its first quarter ended June 30, 2011.

The motorcycle and engine division (which includes ATVs, UTVs, personal watercraft and general purpose engines) generated sales of 59.8 billion yen (US$775.4 million) , a decrease from the 65.5 billion yen (US$848.9 million) reported from the same period last year.

Overall, Kawasaki Heavy Industries reported a profit of 9.56 billion yen (US$123.8 million) over the quarter, compared to a profit of 5.88 billion yen (US$76.2 million) reported last year.

[Source: Kawasaki]

Honda reported a 88.3% year-on-year decrease in net profit over its first quarter ended June 30, 2011, thanks in large part to the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunamis in Japan.

Honda reported a profit of 31.7 billion yen (US$411.1 million) over the quarter, a fraction of the 272.4 billion yen (US$3.53 billion) reported over the same quarter last year.  The decrease came mainly from a large dropoff in automobile sales.

Net sales from the motorcycle division helped keep Honda in the black despite a drop in unit sales. Honda reported a net income of 44.9 billion yen (US$582.4 million), a 43.5% increase from the net sales of 31.3 billion yen (US$406.1 million) from the same period last year. Unit sales were down 4.7% to 2.75 million units from 2.89 million units, but Honda was able to increase profits thanks to changes in its product offerings.

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