A release from Spanish bike firm Orbea notes that the 2016 fiscal year may surpass even its best expectations. The first six months of 2016 have reportedly produced record data. Orbea has grown 16% compared to the same period in 2015, and all its ‘measurement levels are reporting positive results’. So far in 2016, there has been a 3% increase in units sold, and the average price of the products purchased has also increased to €1,000.
In terms of markets, Spain continues to be Orbea’s flagship. In it, the company achieved ‘exceptional growth of 9% during this first part of the year’. Coming from a lower base, other key countries show a strong upward trend, with Orbea’s growth path being especially positive in Germany, with a 50% growth, alongside 70% growth in Belgium and 40% in the United Kingdom.
Electric bicycles have been established as one of Orbea’s strategic pillars of growth, with the company having fulfilled the sales plan set for the entire year as early as June. This positive data has enabled Orbea to generate 20 additional job positions, most in the form of local employment at its facilities in Mallabia in the Basque Country, northern Spain.
Orbea ended 2015 with a turnover of €75 million, in a year in which the company restructured many of its assets: closing the Kunshan plant in China, expanding the factory in Portugal and changing the layout of the Mallabia plant.
All this restructuring was intended to improve service levels and make the company more competitive as it focuses on the traditional pillars of its business: European manufacturing, flexibility, customization and efficient service.
Orbea is part of the Mondragón Cooperative Corporation and is Spain’s largest bicycle operator. Orbea bike frames are finished in Spain – with the brand shipped worldwide.
In 2011, Orbea further cemented its relationship with Orca – the wetsuit and apparel tri brand. Heralding from New Zealand, Orca is part of the Orbea family – with Orbea and Orca reaching an agreement in 2011 for Spanish Orbea to acquire Orca’s ‘operation rights in the triathlon and compression area.’ This deal gave Orbea global rights to the Orca brand, following ‘four years of fruitful relations’ between the two companies.
