Click on the above image to play the video.

Participation in the 16th edition of the annual fair beat the previous high and included nearly 3,500 accredited members of the international business community from more than 40 countries, including most of Latin America, Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, India, Afghanistan, and more.

Of the 450 total exhibitors, 106 were international, including 12 first-time foreign exhibitors and a large presence of industry companies from Asia.

In terms of economic impact, F2R 2024 generated more than $20 million USD for the city, according to the Secretariat of Economic Development of Medellín, and helped facilitate upward of $60 million USD in sales, both between exhibitors in large-volume transactions and in sales to the general public who attended. More than 1,400 motorcycles were sold during the show, according to organizers.

Next year’s event is May 15-18, 2025

For more information go to https://www.feria2ruedas.com/en/visit…

See also: 

Interview: Guillermo Pajón Explains How Medellín’s F2R Became One of the Most Important Motorcycle Industry Events in the World

Finance Colombia’s Loren Moss had a few moments to speak with the event founder Guillermo Pajón about the event’s continuing success, record breaking growth, and importance to both the motorsports and transportation sectors in Colombia and Latin America.

Finance Colombia: I’m here with Don Guillermo, founder of not only Feria de las 2 Ruedas, but also of Prisma Business Management & Events. And I just read a press release from the Municipality of Medellin which states that Feria de las 2 Ruedas impacts the economy of El Valle de Aburrá, of Medellin, with over $20 million USD. And that is so impactful that I can see we already have here, in Plaza Mayor, the convention center in Medellin, over 400 exhibitors, over 2,000 brands. And they are saying you are going to have over 80,000 visitors, is that true?

Guillermo Pajón: First of all, a special greeting. I’m very glad to be sharing with you all, with a man that we also appreciate a lot because he’s always delivering good news about Colombia, about the world, which is what has to be done. We need to try to generate hope, generate faith, say that there are things that can happen. And I believe that with Feria de las 2 Ruedas we are demonstrating that things can be done and can happen. Perhaps in a moment of political uncertainty in Colombia, as well as economic uncertainty…But I believe that the fact that we have 450 exhibitors today; the fact that over 1,500 brands are here today on display; the fact that we have so many people who have arrived from different continents, from different cities, to shake hands and do business, to see what is going on in this dynamic industry that represents almost the 62% of the vehicle pool for Colombia today.

Next year’s event is May 15th to 18th, 2025.

That is, in Colombia there are more motorcycles than four-wheelers (cars and passenger trucks), and it’s a figure that continues to grow. It’s expected that for this year, which is apparently a year of recession after what happened during the pandemic; because 2022 was a really good year, for everything. It is expected that about 650,000 motorcycles will be sold, and that continues to be an interesting figure, not like the figures we’ve been presenting in previous years. Feria de las 2 Ruedas is that space that allows people to make connections through business events, through the business roundtables, through the path that leads to innovation, where 13 brands have presented new models to the industry.

And something else that has caught our attention: the matter of safety. There’s been a lot about the topic of safety in motorcycling. All the ergonomic innovations in motorcycles, with some really special features, with captivating designs…And we can’t forget what’s coming regarding electric mobility, sustainable mobility…Which, today, the Asian delegations are presenting at the fair a large number of offers, and there are also some Colombian brands that today are representing those international brands of sustainable mobility.

Finance Colombia: Yeah, it’s impressive that there is a big delegation here. We conducted an interview with an Indian company, looking for trade links. There’s always a big presence in the pavilion, like China’s as well, and that is very impressive. And one thing I notice because there used to be…Last year the event was successful, but there was a lot of uncertainty coming from many exhibitors about what was going to happen, because of the political-economic situation. But here I notice that brands like Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha are back. Those brands that, due to their own reasons, were not here. And not only the big ones like them, the Japanese, but also those that are always here for the “popular” population, I mean, like Bajaj, like Hero, and AKT, of course, here in Medellin, and TVS, and those brands. But also, another thing I noticed is that this year there are a lot of brands where I asked myself and said, “Wow, I don’t know that brand,” and I went to talk to them and they told me, “No, we are new here, for the first time.” There is a big Mexican brand, Vento which is already big in Mexico, and they told me, “We have big plans for Colombia.” And I think that here, aside from what is happening out there, here there are many votes of confidence in the potential and the opportunity that this sector of motorcycles here in Colombia shows.

Guillermo Pajón: Right, you put it very well. Last year we had a gap, we were really missing these Japanese brands, and now they have come back. They have come back to connect with their users, with their current and potential customers…Because the fair does not choose; they choose us. And they choose us to show themselves, to connect. And I believe the brands understood that it’s not a fair that favors certain brands, or certain origins. It’s the brand…It’s everyone’s fair, and it’s the one that allows us to gather all that supply and demand (in a single place). And yes, there are many new brands. Many brands, not only in motorcycles, but also clothing and equipment. Many brands are coming with new purposes, with new alternatives for this industry. And that’s one of the things the fair is presenting this year: novelties.

Finance Colombia: Yes, that’s true. I have seen that now there are, electric motorcycles, electric bicycles, skateboards…things that I don’t even know how to define, which are already breaking the rules, talking about transportation and innovation. Medellin has always been kind of like the driving force of innovation here in Colombia, and here this event demonstrates so. Another thing that is very important: With 80,000 visitors, I have already spoken with many foreigners, and they say they are in the industry, that they come here to do business; others that are simply tourists or fans. And it’s an event…Today is the day for the press and the industry, but tomorrow…I remember when there were only two days open to the public, but we were shoulder-to-shoulder, and already with three days open to the public.

And I’ve spoken to people who come from the United States, who are not in the industry, but they are people who love motorsports and such. And this event has a positive impact if the mayor and even the president are talking about the correct tourism, responsible tourism, family tourism. And what’s Feria de las 2 Ruedas’ role in promoting the clean, correct, and responsible kind of tourism for Medellin and Colombia?

Guillermo Pajón: Of course. In line with what our Mayor Federico Gutierrez has proposed, we need tourism that contributes to the city, from the social, the economic, the innovation, the knowledge. And the fairs, the conferences, the conventions, the corporate events, are also going to be a priority in the city. Not only the entertainment. To be able to have those international experts, that come here and share with the students, with the university students, with other businessmen, the new dynamics in technologies and production. And I think it’s one of the very important aspects of this fair; those spaces. We hold 127 events, half of which have to do with training, innovation and marketing.

Finance Colombia: Well, this event, to me, aside from being a journalist, being a motorcyclist for many years too, for like 30, 40 years…This event…aside from my professional role, I love it, and I recommend everyone to visit it. My only concern is that we have already run out of space. Plaza Mayor is a huge convention center. And it’s scary to think about how to solve that, it’s a good problem to have, but what will you do next year? Are you going to take up even EPM and Parque de las Luces, and I don’t know what else?

Guillermo Pajón: Yes, truly…I said in my inaugural speech to the secretary of Economic Development, María Fernanda Galeano; I said to her, “We already need to start thinking about how to annex Teatro Metropolitano to Plaza Mayor; how we can be annexing these places around the venue, to give a larger commercial offer.” And logically, to be able to respond to all that demand from national and international exhibitors that want to visit us, and who have found in Feria de las 2 Ruedas, and in the city, a meeting point in this industry. And today we are ranked among the four or five most influential fairs of the world. And we take pride in that, but at the same time, it commits us to raise the bar higher each time.

Finance Colombia: That’s true, and I’m here working, but I’m going to come back… My brother is visiting, I’m going to come back during the weekend to attend as a motorcycle enthusiast. So, I congratulate you on such a special event, aside from its importance, because it is very important, but it’s also something…You know me, I’ve been coming here from even before I was living in Medellin.

Guillermo Pajón: Of course.

Finance Colombia: [Laughs]. So, here’s to another successful year. We want to see many more years. So, Don Guillermo, thank you so much. I know you are the busiest man in Medellin today and in the following four days, so thank you for giving us a little bit of your time.

Guillermo Pajón: No, thank you very much. We’ll be seeing you around here. Follow him, because he will be sharing news with us; he will be telling us what’s in innovation and what this 16th edition of Feria de las 2 Ruedas in Medellin, Colombia will be presenting. Best regards.

Finance Colombia: Feria de las 2 Ruedas, I’ll put the link right down here. Click, register, it’s open to the public. Come! Thanks.

https://www.feria2ruedas.com/en Next year’s event is May 15th to 18th, 2025.

Even with the notable absence of several of the Japanese brands — except Kawasaki, which had an impressive presence — this 2023 edition of the Feria de las 2 Ruedas broke all records.

As something of a tradition, just as in prior years, Finance Colombia’s Executive Editor Loren Moss was able to unpack the details and takeaways of this year’s event with founder and organizer Guillermo Pajón. The two analyze the absence of some of the traditional two-wheel powerhouses, along with how the event has evolved and grown over the past several years.

Some may not realize that Pajón’s Prisma Events, the organizer of F2R offers an array of logistics services for events in Colombia throughout the year. For the first time, the discussion expands to the possibilities and offer for international companies and organizations considering holding their next major function in Colombia.

Next year promises even more, and smart cyclists have already marked their calendars for F2R from May 2-5, 2024.

Loren Moss: Mr. Guillermo, good to see you.

Guillermo Pajón: You as well! Nice greeting you, it’s good to see you. Thank you again for joining us, I told [our associate] Jason that you were already a very close friend of ours, that we appreciated you very much. Again, thank you very much for joining us in this 15th version of the fair. How many fairs have you been with us already?

Loren Moss: Wow, I think my first one was almost 10 years ago. My first F2R was in 2015, I think, and I’ve never missed it. I always plan ahead, because of all the trips I have, I always keep that space blocked. I assure you I will be in Medellín for that event. And wow, how impressive, number 15, how you’ve grown. And I think this year there were like 20,000 more people than last year, right?

Guillermo Pajón: Yes. I don’t know if you managed to tour all the pavilions. If you managed to see all the pavilions, logically it is a lot bigger insofar as space occupation, even without these three other very important brands, the Japanese ones that didn’t join us this year because of all that’s going on in the country. They got really scared with the new government, because when we went out to market the fair in 2022, the current Colombian government had only been in power for a month, and these brands got really scared. They said, “we are not going to any events, we’ll wait and see what happens with the country.” But well here we are and, again, thank you so so much for joining us.

Loren Moss: That’s something that’s a really complicated matter. Because I, as a journalist, and our publication is more about the business aspects, and there’s so much uncertainty in the mind of the investor. I’ve seen factory projects postponed. And what do the multinational companies say? They say, “let’s wait, see what happens.” So I hope they gain the confidence to return, but even though Kawasaki already had a stronger presence than before. Benelli Italy, are the ones that are always loyal, like Royal Enfield, we did the tour in the AKT factory in Envigado, where they also make the Royal Enfield; Triumph is also always very strong in the event. And this year I’ve seen there are a lot of new brands, right?

Guillermo Pajón: Of course. Vento arrived. Vento comes from the USA to Mexico and is a brand that I’ve known for 15, 17 years. It’s really strong in Mexico, and they came in full force. Apparently, they opened about six or seven sales points in Colombia, and almost 300 bikes have already been reserved before the month of August, so I think that is a positive impact for the industry.

Suddenly, the space that the Japanese brands left, other brands are going to take it, which can happen when one is not present and a consumer wants to buy a bike and doesn’t see it. But they see another brand. So, in a way, that takes away the potential those brands had. Not to say they aren’t benchmark brands in the world, but there’s a market for every user and for every pocket, as they say.

Loren Moss: It’s ironic. Because I was prepared this year, I saw Honda launched a new model out in the world, called Transalp, which is like the Africa but smaller. It’s a 77 motor. I wanted to buy that, and my wife was also going to buy. She has an ATK, but she wanted to switch to a Suzuki or a Yamaha. So, we go with our wallets ready — and they aren’t even there! Imagine.

Guillermo Pajón: Yeah, yeah. It made an impact. And let me tell you, there isn’t going to be a fair in Brazil, the Feria de las 2 Ruedas in Brazil, which was normally held in October-November. This year won’t be done in Brazil. Brazil is a market that is 80%, as someone explained to me, Honda, and Honda isn’t going to the fair. Therefore, there won’t be a fair. That Brazil situation for the end of this year caught our attention.

Loren Moss: Well at least we know then it’s not just in Colombia, and I hope the market takes up this issue. At least Kawasaki was there, but to see the other traditional Japanese ones — I hope they return. But speaking of countries, India was the guest country this year, if I recall correctly.

Guillermo Pajón: Yes, that’s correct. I think Europe and Asia, especially, are looking at Latin America in a very special way. I think there is a very important development in Latin America, and now we see Peru, Ecuador, and Central America growing quite a bit in the motorcycle industry.

There lies the importance of the Feria de las 2 Ruedas in Colombia, because it becomes equidistant for the Latin American market. I mean, Colombia is in the center of all of the Americas, and that allows the meeting of all the entrepreneurs of Central and South America as a sort of council, and that caught our attention quite a bit.

Because the Brazilian market is very much their own. It’s very protectionist. It has high fees for foreign brands to enter. Because it’s such a big market, they practically handle it all themselves. And they aren’t interested in having a big impact on the outside market.

Meanwhile, for the rest of Latin America — including Argentina now, which also has an interesting range of motorcycles, the same as Mexico — we are seeing high growth in the industry in Central America, Peru, and Ecuador.

So, there lies the importance of the fair and of having had India showing its products. Let’s not forget India has some really good products. The Royal Enfield is Indian, the TVS is Indian, and there are a lot of very high-quality Indian products and spare parts.

They have been really strong in clothing, meaning jackets, too. I don’t know if you saw the Pakistan stands. They are very strong in jackets, gloves. It’s a market that they are finding to be really interesting in Latin America, and that’s why the Feria de las 2 Ruedas has taken this role of being the fair that is gathering all the entrepreneurs of the Americas.

Loren Moss: Going from the global, international market to the local one, something new I saw this year was that you made a space for local entrepreneurs, from Medellín, Antioquia. That was a very interesting thing, some space to promote the local industry. Medellín obviously has its traditional textile industries. Obviously, there are factories here like AKT, like Incolmotos up north. But you guys made a space, and if I recall correctly, this was the first year that you made a space dedicated to small, local entrepreneurs, right?

Guillermo Pajón: We have always had this calling of making space from the social support side of the fair, because a small entrepreneur is going to say, “Look, I can’t pay for the stand, I can’t make it work, I don’t have the budget.” They see it as too unattainable, too superior, when they come across these big companies with very elaborate stands, and a lot of money invested in them.

What did we say to the mayor’s office of Medellín? “Mayor’s office of Medellín, come help us subsidize and contribute to these small entrepreneurs so they can also participate in the fair.” And I’ve got to say, the mayor’s office of Medellín provided money to these entrepreneurs, so they can subsidize their stay at the fair and make themselves visible.

They are small manufacturers. Some are “famiempresas,” as we call them in Colombia, meaning family companies. The man who is working with his wife, the one that is operating a small factory. And in some ways, we’ve seen over time how many of them, who started very small at the fair, have been growing year after year, because the fair opened up a lane for them.

I remember one time, there was a small clothing company that made small bags, and a company like AKT came along and said, “I’m interested in your product, I’m going to buy 5,000 of those.” That boy didn’t know if he should be happy or hide under the table!

Loren Moss: Exactly!

Guillermo Pajón: Because he was, like, “first, I’m glad because I never had an order like that, but, second, I don’t have the capital to produce 5,000 of these.” Because, logistically, a big company is going to ask for it, and first you have to produce it. And to produce it, you have to buy the input material. So he said to me, “look how great! — and at the same time, it’s bad what’s happening to me because I’m not prepared yet as a small entrepreneur to respond to this industry.”

Loren Moss: Good problems. There are good problems and bad problems. That’s a good problem.

Guillermo Pajón: That’s right.

Loren Moss: That was excellent. So, tell me, for next year, in the future, what worries me is that you run out of space. Because success leads to more success. Every year it’s more: There are more companies interested in participating. This year, you took the metropolitan theater. You didn’t have to do that before. So it is still growing — another good problem!

What you are going to do for next year? It’s going to be plenty of space because of all the interest. And you guys have two parts: a part for the industry and a part for the public. It was really good what you changed, that you made an extra route for the public, because there are so many people who want to participate that they are shoulder to shoulder.

I remember last year, it was so full, and it’s good to provide more space, but will there be more space for more companies, factories, the industry companies that want to participate?

Guillermo Pajón: Very good question. There are two things that we are going to do. We spoke with the metropolitan theater, because we were only using the internal side of the theater, and we got the confirmation that we can use the parking spaces, the lobby, and some parts of the theater lobby as a commercial area.

So, we are most likely going to have a larger commercial presence in the metropolitan theater. Not just for academic events or the innovation room, but the outside of the theater as the commercial part. And that will mean asking for permission for the closure of the surrounding streets to make that whole area one single fair, including the access routes, leaving space for parking.

That’s first. The second option is to be more selective. I explained it this way: As you get older, you say, I know what movie I want to watch, I know with what friends I’m going to live my life with, I know what liquor I want to drink. At a restaurant I already know what I’m going to order. You don’t just order anything nor accept everything.

So, we are going to strive to be more selective without disparaging any of the exhibitors, meaning that we will operate with the understanding that the fair is now at a certain level.

I’ll give you an example. There is an exhibitor that was in the white pavilion last year. The white pavilion has carpets and mats. Last year, Suzuki was there, SYM was there, and Harley Davidson and AKT. Very good brands. And this man sets up a stand without any decoration, with nothing special. The representative of Suzuki comes up to me and says, “Look, I don’t think it’s fair that I’m making such a big investment, setting up such a beautiful stand, and next to me there’s this stand so poorly presented that isn’t in par with this fair, which has, on an aesthetic and installation level, a very international presence.”

So, when we say selective, we don’t mean that we won’t allow them to enter. But that we are going to be more demanding when it comes to presenting and being at the event.

Loren Moss: I think that is a good strategy. Especially because there’s a lot of space. There is a place where you have the brands of the motorcycles, and you also always have a space for spare parts and tools and motorcycle jacks and stuff for the workshop. You always have space for jackets and boots and things like that. So, that also helps guests, because if I’m looking for that, maybe I’m going to find it here. If I’m looking for accessories, they are going to be over there. So I think that’s a good strategy. Do you already have the dates for next year?

Guillermo Pajón: Yes. It’s going to be from the May 2-5. Those same four days. At the moment, we are conducting a survey of the exhibitors to see if they want four days for the fair, or if they want five days. We are conducting a survey where we are asking exhibitors if they want it every year, or every two years.

We are conducting a survey of the exhibitors to see if they want to make it one year in Bogotá and one year in Medellín. Or just Medellín. We are doing all of that to have an outlook on what may be the future of the fair.

Bogotá is an interesting place on a user level, but we understand that logistically, Medellín — because of the assembly plants, the number of large companies the city has, and because of all that the city of Medellín generates — has a very strong appeal. But we do want to make agreed-upon and democratic decisions keeping our exhibitors in mind.

Loren Moss: Well, I know that the event is a big source of pride for the paisas [of Antioquia] having it here in Medellín. I imagine they don’t want to lose it, especially to the rolos [from the Colombian capital]. But be it in Bogotá or Medellín, either way, I’m always going to attend.

Can you tell me briefly about Prisma? Because your company is more than F2R. That’s the most famous, but you guys are large event planners, and I imagine there are companies from our multinational readers who think of doing fairs or events in Medellín or Colombia. What services does Prisma offer? Because I know the motorcycle fair is the most famous for the public, but I know you have a very successful company that does more than just the fair, right?

Guillermo Pajón: Yes, we have three business units. One is what we call Prisma’s own events, which is the Feria de las 2 Ruedas, and for over 20 years we’ve been doing another fair, which we started, called Feria Autopartes. That one, maybe next year we will be turning it into another fair.

And there’s a fair that is pending — there’s a date reserved for it already — called Autoshow. Autoshow is a fair similar to the one at SEMA, in Vegas. In Vegas, there’s a fair called AAPEX, which is a fair for spare parts for four-wheeled vehicles, and parallel to that there’s a fair called SEMA, which is the fair where they exhibit everything related to vehicle personalization, tires, tuning. Because the embellishment of vehicles isn’t so much about spares anymore, but rather it’s a fair more dedicated to the user as such.

So, that is one of the divisions of Prisma. Then, Prisma has another division, which is events for third parties. Meaning, we do conferences, provide accompaniment at other fairs for consulting, we do conventions, and some special events like festivals in the cooperative sector. Last year, for example, we did two big conferences. This year we are doing two other really big conferences, which we operate for universities or other entities and organizations in general, for the pharmaceutical sector we also do some conferences.

Then, we have a third division called Prisma Montajes, which makes possible all the installations you saw at the fair. Meaning, there is a separate warehouse, and when someone says we need to set up an event, we, for example, make the installations for Colombia Moda and Colombiatex in everything related to paneling. All things furniture. What you saw, for example, in the press room. All that furniture, all those installations are made by this third Prisma company called Prisma Montajes.

Those are the three business units that our company has.

Loren Moss: Logistics, so that’s very important. You’ve been very kind with your time, so I’m thankful. My last question, if I recall correctly, is how is your Harley Davidson?

Guillermo Pajón: Oh, yeah! I don’t have it anymore. I have other collector bikes that have always caught my eye. The thing is that I used to have a Harley Davidson, a really nice 883. You have a good memory!

So, the thing about the Harley is that the Harley is a bike that you have to take out for a ride, it’s not much of a city bike, because here the traffic jams in the city don’t allow you to have a bike where one can just go for a spin. And really my multiple occupations don’t allow me to be on the hog or in these groups that are riding permanently. But I have really enjoyed collecting a few bikes, especially the personalized and customized ones, which are the ones I like the most and the ones that catch my eye.

Loren Moss: Super. Well, Mr. Guillermo, thank you very much for your time. It is always an honor, and I’m also happy to see the success. The event is a great pride for Colombia, especially for Medellín, and I hope you continue having success as you’ve had so far. It’s a very important thing, and it makes me very happy and proud to attend and to participate as a journalist. So, thank you very much.

Guillermo Pajón: No, again, thank you so so much. Because people like you are the ones that make the event big — make it capable of crossing borders so that we can tell the world, in the middle of all these news that aren’t so good at times, that we are working for the country, that we are working for the good things, that we are generating jobs, that we are generating life, and especially, that we are making things happen. Thank you very very much. I send you my best regards with all my appreciation.

Loren Moss: Best regards — and see you in May 2024 if I don’t see you sooner!

Guillermo Pajón: OK, of course. Best regards. See you later.

Photos: Liliana Padierna

F2R, or Feria 2 Ruedas (2 Wheels Fair), officials claim that the four-day gathering created an overall economic benefit of $15 million USD given its generation of direct and indirect jobs, among other factors.

The convention, which was held from May 4-7 in Medellín’s Plaza Mayor, brought in 50 motorcycle industry exhibitors from 35 different countries and facilitated sales among the vendors. This year’s event also pushed the theme of sustainable mobility, including 19 exhibits that featured electric scooters and other displays with a focus on environmental awareness.

The exhibition hall at F2R 2023 was packed throughout the four-day event in Medellín.

While the first two days of the event are reserved for industry participants and registered attendees, the event became a public exhibition for enthusiasts in the city who gathered to see the motorcycles on display, purchase merchandise, watch riding displays, listen to talks, and generally enjoy the atmosphere.

“This year, the fair has been spectacular,” said Mauricio Maestre, director of PaMotos.com. “The flow of people has been constant as always, exceeding expectations … We have made sales, we are doing well, and our products have been received really well.”

Sponsors, vendors, and exhibitors spent the weekend trying to close sales and entertain attendees.

Over the course of four days, 80,000 attendees passed through the convention grounds to absorb everything motorcycle related, along with participation from bicycle, electric mobility, and all-terrain vehicle manufacturers. Motorcycles were on display ranging in price from under $1,000 USD up to well over $50,000 USD.

The absence of Suzuki, Yamaha and Honda calls into question their commitment to the Colombian market.

International exhibitors brought in about twenty-four tons of merchandise from Brazil, China, Spain, the United States, India, Italy, Mexico, Nepal, Panama, Taiwan and Venezuela. Among the items registered are motorcycles, bicycles, helmets, spare parts, clothing, souvenirs and more, taking advantage of the fact that Plaza Mayor is a transitory free zone, removing duties and VAT on exhibited products.

With the exception of Kawasaki, that had a strong presence demonstrating its commitment to the Colombian market, the strange absence of the three Japanese brands: Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki was more than compensated by new market entrants demonstrating the Vibrance of the Colombian motorcycle market, and Latin America more broadly. For example, new vendor Vento Motorcycles made its Colombian debut  and announced a pre-sale of 300 motorcycles during the event.

Harley Davidson has been a faithful and enthusiastic exhibitor every year (photo: Loren Moss)

High end vendors like Harley Davidson and Ducati were also on hand, as were storied brands like Triumph and Royal Enfield.

Aside from commercial exhibits, there were 32 academic sessions attended by over 1,100 industry professionals, students and devotees, as well as accolades for groups such as women riders and motorcycle clubs.

The third annual stunt competition took place, with winners being:

Female:
Angie Dayanna Camargo Gómez – La Mona Stunt
Rookies: Belsasar Castillo Obregón – BelsaStunt299

Pre Experts:
Jhon Camilo Restrepo Vélez – Camilo Stunt

2 stroke Experts:  
Eduardo Messino – Neider Stunt

4 stroke Experts:
Pablo Zapata Parra – Vocha

High Cylinder:
Pablo Zapata Parra – Vocha

As before, the first two days are industry-only, where deals are done among the importers, exporters, and retailers, including all the major global motorcycle brands. There is also an academic track of 35 sessions where technical issues are discussed such as developments in lubricant, engine and electronic technology, and motorcycle lifestyle issues, such as group and club reunions, celebrations, and awards.

Saturday and Sunday, the final two days of the event, admission opens to the general public, and the fun ramps up with stunt shows, concerts, prizes, and general two-wheeled fun. 4,000 square meters have been reserved for two separate stages of motorcycle stunts and spectacles.

In addition to 780 motorcycles and 300 accessory brands, journalists representing 11 countries have registered to attend, 147 electric vehicles will be displayed, and there will be 19 exhibits on sustainable mobility, from electric scooters to next-generation personal vehicles. All Terrain Vehicles and Bicycles also have an important presence at F2R.

Motorcycles are an important mode of transportation in Colombia making it the ideal location for F2R, the largest and most important motorcycle industry event in The Americas. There are around 9.4 million motorcycles roaming Colombian roads, including over 640 thousand sold in the first nine months of 2022, representing a booming 19% growth over 2021 when mobility was restricted due to the COVID pandemic.

While high end motorcycles such as Ducati and Harley Davidson do well in Colombia among high-income riders, the market is dominated by small-cylinder (100-150cc) basic transportation motorcycles from brands like Yamaha, AKT, Bajaj, and Suzuki.

See also: Guillermo Pajon Discusses The Success & Importance Of 2022’s Bigger & Better F2R Motorcycle Industry Event

Photos: Loren Moss

Here in Colombia, Cartagena has had a notoriously corrupt city administration. Newly elected Mayor William Dau was voted in on an anti-corruption platform and has quickly made some very powerful enemies taking on criminal structures. Bogotá’s political/civic culture can be described as “battle royale” where it is everyone against everyone: Private sector vs. public sector, north side vs. south side; each new administration seems to try to undo and reverse everything that was done before. Many remember former mayor and now Senator Gustavo Petro’s garbage fiasco where trash piled up on the streets of Bogotá in 2012 as Petro unilaterally canceled contracts with sanitation contractors—without a viable plan to replace them. Corrupt contractors are still in jail over the “Carrusel de Contratos” scandal where politicians and corporate thieves conspired to rob millions during the construction of Avenida El Dorado, the main thoroughfare leading to Bogotá’s international airport. Petro kept the fares on Bogotá’s Transmilenio bus system artificially low to buy popularity, creating an operating deficit and financial crisis that the following administration would have to fix, and automatically vilifying whoever would follow and have to make unpopular, drastic corrections.

On multiple occasions, Finance Colombia has reached out to Mayor Daniel Quintero for comment (on various issues), who through his press secretary has refused comment or reply.

On the other hand, Medellín’s professionally managed metro runs on-time, is clean and safe, and used by riders of almost every socioeconomic stratum. Medellín has continued to win international accolades throughout the years, hosting the World Economic Forum’s Latin America event in 2016, several UN events, and many delegations from foreign municipal governments to learn best practices. Many visit the city’s Ruta-N business and entrepreneurship incubator that can be credited, along with ACI (Agencia de Cooperación Internacionál), the city’s investment promotion agency with bringing countless jobs and investment to the Aburrá Valley; home to Medellin and its immediate suburbs like Envigado, Sabaneta, Itaguí, and Bello.

The city is home to several multinationals: Bancolombia, Colombia’s largest Bank; Grupo Sura, an insurance, investment & health care giant; Cementos Argos, which as a cement producer is the 4^th largest in the United States and exports to 27 countries; Nutresa, which is like a Latin American Unilever or Nestle, and newer companies like Viva Air. More precisely in the Medellín Suburb of Rionegro, the low-cost airline operates routes throughout Colombia & Peru, to and from the US, and is currently in expansion mode despite the COVID-19 Pandemic.

EPM Headquarters Building in Medellín’s Plaza Mayor

Another multinational with a very unusual business model is EPM, Empresas Públicas de Medellín. The public utility is responsible for sanitation, sewers, water, electricity, and natural gas in Medellín and much of the surrounding suburbs and rural areas. In a joint venture with global telecommunications provider Millicom called Tigo Une, it provides faster residential internet service than is available in many US cities. Earlier this year, they purchased the formerly insolvent utility networks of much of Colombia’s Caribbean coastal region. EPM already owns utility operations outside of Colombia, with assets of the multibillion-dollar company stretching from Chile to Mexico. EPM, though it does issue debt on international markets is not a publicly traded company. Neither is it a municipal utility. It is a separate company with professional management and (up until now) a board of directors to provide corporate governance, but with the city of Medellín as the sole shareholder. In the form of dividends, EPM provides almost 30% of Medellín’s municipal budget, but the key to this arrangement has been that it operates as a separate entity, expressly not part of the municipal administration, but of course with the city’s input. The mayor by statute is the chairman of EPM’s board of directors and has prerogative to appoint the CEO. As shareholder, the city also appoints board members.

A breath of fresh air?

Many in Medellín were pleased to see Daniel Quintero elected last year as a “breath of fresh air” and change from the traditional power families that have controlled politics, especially as he defeated Alfredo Ramos, son of a former governor and member of Centro Democrático, the party of “Uribistas,” personal acolytes of former President (now under house arrest for witness-tampering charges) Alvaro Uribe. With Medellín & surrounding Antioquia Uribe’s home turf (he was both mayor of Medellín & governor of Antioquia before becoming president of Colombia), it was something of a surprise that this local who was raised by a single mother who died when he was just 14 in a mostly poor neighborhood (Tricentenario) won the election. As a youth, Quintero worked as a street vendor struggling to put himself through college. No one knew quite what to make of him.

Quintero had politicked at different times as a member of Colombia’s Liberal Party, Conservative Party, and Green Party before establishing the “Tomato Party” as a publicity stunt to get himself noticed (see the headline photo). He gained attention by throwing tomatoes at pictures of politicians and people he didn’t like, such as Alvaro Uribe and then President Juan Manuel Santos, though he decided to support Santos’ re-election in 2014. He was then rewarded with the political appointment of running InnPulsa, Colombia’s national entrepreneurship promotion agency, then becoming vice-minister for ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) under Santos. In the last presidential election, Quintero initially supported mainstream liberal candidate & peace negotiator Humberto De La Calle, before switching his support to controversial former mayor of Bogotá Gustavo Petro’s (mentioned above) candidacy.

So no one knew what to expect, though it is clear they wanted more of the vice-minister of technology or InnPulsa director than the tomato throwing stunt man who once handed former EPM general manager Jorge Londoño a chunk of cheese (nonverbally calling him a rat).

A whiff of Limburger—stinky cheese.

Finance Colombia being primarily a business and finance publication rather than a political journal, heard some low intensity criticism of appointments that Quintero had been making in the city administration and the way he was making them, but did not actively pursue the stories at the time. Quintero made some other moves that seemed politically silly, such as writing the Cuban government to ask for doctors to help with the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless of the merits of Cuban medical missions (which are very dubious), it is inconceivable that the current national government would permit such activity, and the action could only embarrass the mayor, which it did. Finance Colombia chalked it up to benign political inexperience.

The mayor also fought back a scandal where he was accused on social media of inappropriate sexual conduct before he was mayor, but even more ominous was his reaction to the press, which brought condemnation from Colombia’s Foundation for Press Liberty, FLIP:

“FLIP was able to document that Quintero personally pressured media executives and pointed out journalists as being opponents of his administration as a way to avoid questions about matters on which he must be held accountable…In events related to this situation, administration officials tried to force national and local media to improve the image of the mayor in exchange for advertising. Telemedellín (City government’s official TV channel) officials asked W Radio to rectify a truthful publication and also that the media agree to subscribe and publish a joint statement with Telemedellín to disseminate as true a situation that did not correspond to reality,” said the journalism rights defense group.

In other words, “I will buy advertising with your paper if you help me bury this scandal.” FLIP also denounced the mayor for pressuring newspaper El Espectador to block coverage of the scandal. According to FLIP, and El Espectador’s own account of the misdeeds, the publisher, Fidel Cano, responded by sending the questions to the mayor that his reporters had been trying to ask. “The mayor of Medellín assured the director of the newspaper that he would take legal action if the publication affected his reputation” (he never did).

All this so far and the mayor has served only his first 8 months of a 4-year term.

The mayor’s official press conference, canceled at the last minute, crowing “Why Medellin is the world’s standard in the assertive management of Covid-19” as cases in the city began to skyrocket

On June 27, the Quintero administration scheduled a press conference titled “Why Medellín has one of the lowest contagion and mortality rates in Latin America?” scheduled for July 2^nd, and led by Daniel Quintero himself, backed by Andree Uribe, Medellin’s Secretary of Health, Alejandro Arias, Medellín’s Secretary of Economic Development, and Eleonora Betancur, the director of ACI Medellin. The day before the press conference, it was abruptly canceled. It seemed the mayor wanted to take credit for good news but avoid bad news. The headlines that day in El Colombiano, Medellín’s largest daily? “100,000 cases of Coronavirus in Colombia, Where are we going?” and with 40% of ICU units full, “Doctors of Antioqua appeal for total & obligatory quarantine.”  The last weekend of August the ICUs are now 70.79% full. The day the press conference was to be held, a headline in El Colombiano announced a coronavirus outbreak with 36 infected in the La Paz prison in Medellín’s southern suburb of Itaguí.

The cases—and deaths were just beginning to skyrocket and two months later Colombia has one of the world’s worst mortality rates on a trailing 7 day average. According to the Colombian government, Antioquia department (Medellín is the only large city in Antioquia) alone has had 77,709 cases so far. Colombia now has over 18,000 deaths from COVID-19, most within the past two months. 1,603 in Medellín & surrounding Antioquia.

Last month, EPM general manager Álvaro Guillermo Rendón announced a memorandum of understanding with InnPulsa, the same national government agency formerly run by Quintero himself, that would, if more than just talk, “convert EPM into a laboratory of smart cities, the 4^th industrial revolution, and the orange economy.” All well and good (maybe, but that doesn’t sound like the function of a utility), but what the public did not know was that this fundamental change in corporate strategy and negotiations with the national government were worked out without the knowledge, discussion or approval of the company’s board of directors. EPM was being treated not as a separate entity but part of the municipal administration.

OFFICIAL STATISTICS: As of August 28th, Antioquia had 77,709 total COVID-19 cases, 1.603 deaths and hospital intensive care wards were over 70% of capacity over 80% of Antioquia’s cases are from metro Medellín.

The $2.7 billion dollar WTF

On August 10, EPM sent out a press release (and the mayor tweeted) that EPM would be initiating legal proceedings in the amount of  approximately $2,7 billion US dollars against the consortiums responsible for construction of EPM’s troubled Hidroituango dam that suffered catastrophic setbacks due to unexpected flooding in 2018 and design flaws that were thus revealed. Whether such legal action is a good idea is debatable: On one hand there certainly were defects that have cost the company millions and delayed the project by over a year. On the other hand, litigation could potentially bring the project to a halt, as EPM is still depending upon the parties it is suing to complete the project before certain deadlines, or it faces economic penalties in power generation commitments of over $150 million USD. It is also far from certain that EPM would prevail in its legal crusade against all the parties named, some of which have nothing to do with the construction defects that led to a tunnel blockage during construction.

The shocking thing is that Mayor Quintero along with Rendon and Alexander Sánchez Pérez, EPM’s vice president for legal affairs, declared this multibillion dollar action without discussion, input or even knowledge of the company’s board of directors!

The next day, the entire board of directors, except for Quintero himself, resigned.

Soon Quintero tried to justify his actions saying “there was no time” and he had to act, but he had already been mayor for 8 months and ran on a campaign of rectifying the Hidroituango situation (remember his cheese stunt with the former general manager?) and so was aware of the situation. If not, he had 8 months to be brought up to speed. At any rate, without board ratification, such actions have dubious legal force, and as bad or worse, prove a lack of corporate governance at EPM and direct political control. CEO Rendón clearly answers not to the board of directors but to a politician.

One day after the board of directors of EPM resigned, the entire board of directors of Medellín’s storied Ruta-N also resigned, along with its executive director, Juan Andrés Vásquez. Ruta N was already under its third executive director in Quintero’s 8 month old administration. Vásquez learned that Quintero was replacing him after Quintero announced Trump-style, in the media, saying he “had drifted away from the administration.” Like EPM, Ruta-N is not a city agency directly under the administration, but a public-private partnership with professionalized management and governance, and internal merit-based personnel policies.  Sources inside Ruta-N say that Quintero had been trying to circumvent the qualifications-based hiring of the business incubator to install friends and supporters into sinecures. People inside both organizations indicate that morale is at bottom.

Beverage giant Postobón rescinded its financial support of a health initiative spearheaded by Ruta-N saying it no longer had confidence in the entity’s governance. Postobón had already spent $4 billion pesos on the initiative to build respirators for coronavirus patients but said it would continue to donate, just elsewhere after the board resignation.

That same week, in reaction to what it called “a deterioration of corporate governance controls at the company,” global ratings firm Fitch downgraded EPM’s credit as a bond issuer to one notch above junk bond status. In a statement, the foreign, independent agency stated:

“Fitch believes recent actions taken by the company are contrary to the Governability Agreement, signed on April 23, 2007, between the City of Medellin and EPM’s management, in which the municipality agreed to respect the autonomy of EPM as an industrial and commercial enterprise of the state and to act exclusively through the board of directors.”

Flailing about

The mayor scrambled to assemble a new board of directors for EPM, which as an issuer of debt in the international capital markets, must answer to institutional bondholders. Over the ensuing days, Quintero variously announced that Claro Colombia CEO Juan Carlos Archila would join EPM’s board (creating a conflict since Claro competes with Tigo Une), Grupo Santo Domingo’s Alberto Preciado,  Luis Fernando Rico, formerly of Isagen, another Colombian utility, and Sandra Suarez, the former general manager of newsweekly Semana all rejected Quintero’s oddly public nominations. Did he not confirm with them beforehand if they would accept the appointments, or did they publicly reject the nominations as a rebuke to the mayor?

Meanwhile, EPM’s board representative to Tigo Une, Federico Arango Toro also resigned in a public letter saying he wanted no part of Quintero’s administration.

Banks and insurers are already turning their back on EPM, citing a lack of control at the organization. EPM had to admit that certain loans and lines of credit had been shut off after the board resignations. An internal document seen by Finance Colombia stated that the firm may have difficulty finding or renewing certain insurance coverages.

In the midst of all this, Colombia’s human rights tribunal set up as part of the 2016 Peace Accords, the JEP (Special Jurisdiction for Peace) has subpoenaed general manager Rendón under threat of arrest for ignoring during his 8 months as the utility’s legal representative, a year old subpoena for documents regarding possible obstruction of the search for the remains of victims of violence during the construction of Hidroituango, before Rendón’s appointment.

Medellín’s city council is on scheduled recess, but they have publicly asked the mayor to reconvene a session to discuss the governance crisis. Under law, (article 23, law 136 of 1994), they can only formally convene during a recess at the mayor’s request.

Labor unions & business community united

EPM’s largest labor union, SINPRO has called for a protest on Wednesday, September 2nd, for everyone in the city to turn out their lights for 30 minutes at 8pm, and for workers and the public to gather outside of the company’s headquarters in Plaza Mayor at that time for a rally in defense of EPM.

“When Medellín turns off, we hope that our leaders will understand that this is everyone’s problem, and that a city shut down doesn’t serve anyone. If EPM is in crisis, it doesn’t just shut down the city, it shuts down the country,” said union President Olga Lucia Arango.

The union is also demanding explanation of EPM general manager Rendon’s alleged private gym and luxury remodel during a time the company is under self-imposed austerity orders.

Civic leaders, executives, and nonprofits from across the region have begun to organize in reaction to the mayor, forming on August 25, a veeduría, or citizen’s oversight group ”made up of people with no particular economic interests in either EPM or the mayoralty that will work to take care of the heritage of the city and the interests of all Medellinenses.”

The initiative, called “Todos por Medellín” (Everyone for Medellín) is backed by over 40 groups, including the Chamber of Commerce of Medellin (in Colombia, chambers of commerce perform a quasigovernmental function, for example, as the registry of corporate and nonprofit organizations, and their articles of incorporation), the Intergremial committee (a grémio is a trade group or business association), and Proantioquia, the region’s primary civic benevolent foundation.

The mayor gets combative

Last Thursday, Mayor Quintero showed no contrition, but tried to dismiss the concerns as political machinations. “The oversight is fine, but we need oversight agencies to see everything. They didn’t see a lot of things, for example, $17 trillion of debt in the last 15 years. How come they didn’t see Orbitel, UNE, Antofagasta, Porce III and Hidroituango? A mayor appears to them who responds, has character, then a lot of politicians come out to do oversight. The veeduría is welcome but we are going to review everything. That the mayor is the one who manages the networks and they govern? No!” he said in a press conference.

Taking a page from the playbook of his preferred presidential candidate and apparent ally Gustavo Petro, who had a disastrous term as mayor of Bogotá and was temporarily removed from office by the national government, Quintero frames it all as a nefarious plot against him (does he think international ratings firm Fitch is in on the plot?)

“There are some groups full of politicians who want to carry out processes to revoke the mayor, that have been moving for a long time, we are ready, we have no problems in showing results and what we have done. They are worried because a long time ago they did not meet an independent mayor, a mayor who is not beholden to politicians or businessmen, but to the people,” said Quintero.

Navegamos entre fuerzas oscuras que se resisten al cambio. Con fe y sin miedo seguiremos adelante con transparencia, honestidad y contra la corrupción y la politiquería.

— Daniel Quintero Calle (@QuinteroCalle) August 26, 2020

CAPED CRUSADER? Quintero seems to fancy himself a hero navigating “between dark forces that resist change. With faith and without fear we will continue forward with transparency, honesty, and against the corruption and politicking” he tweeted last week after learning of the group Todos por Medellín.

Analysis

Quintero’s plan seems to be to blame his woes not on his own actions, but on former President Alvaro Uribe. Uribe’s reputation has steadily declined since his presidency, and where he was once seen as the man who rescued Colombia from communist rebels and drug cartels, his legacy has steadily soured as an avalanche of allegations and evidence piles up that tie him directly to paramilitary death squads during his time as governor, and indirectly to narcotraffickers and civilian massacres committed during his presidency. As if that were not enough, he is currently under arrest and confined to his northern Colombia ranch on charges of witness tampering, attempting to frame leftist senator Ivan Cépeda, a nemesis of Uribe in the Colombian senate.

Quintero wants to blame Uribe & his Centro Democrático for his woes, but since Uribe founded the party in 2013 it has never won a mayoral election in Medellín. The last Uribe supporter to hold the office was Luis Pérez from 2001-2004. Perez later abandoned Uribe for President Santos, working in 2015 as his regional campaign coordinator to defeat Uribe’s chosen presidential candidate Ivan Zuluaga.

Blaming the Uribe bogeyman may be a good tactic after the damage that has been done, but those aghast at recent developments extend far outside Uribe’s sphere of influence. Uribe did tweet support for the citizens movement, and Petro in support of Quintero, but opponents of Uribismo are also speaking out against Quintero. Former mayor of Medellín (2004-2008) and governor of Antioquia Sergio Fajardo immediately wrote a letter of concern, on August 12, admonishing Quintero’s actions.

Medellín’s previous mayor, Federico Gutierrez, nicknamed Fico, surprisingly upset Uribe’s candidate Juan Carlos Vélez to win the mayoralty in 2016. His letter, also dated August 12 is even more blunt. “EPM & Medellin are in danger.”

Letter from former Medellín Mayor Federico Gutierrez: “EPM & Medellín Are In Danger”

“The discourse of Quintero is based on lies. He talks of social struggle, of a class struggle, the same ideas of Gustavo Petro, who furthermore was the first to celebrate and support the mayor’s decision to deinstitutionalize EPM, which obliged the board’s renunciation. But look at the contradictions: What kind of social struggle destroys the motors of progress? EPM is that very thing, an incalculable help for the most vulnerable communities, a tool to breach social divides.” – excerpt from Federico Gutierrez’s letter.

Paisas, as people from Medellín & Antioquia call themselves tend center to right on the political spectrum and have less appetite for the far-left adventurism much more popular in Bogotá. Marxist talk like “class struggle” doesn’t go over so well here. Before this editor started Finance Colombia or even moved to Colombia, representatives from the city (going back to before 2013) would call and extend invitations: “Come to Medellín, let us show you what we are doing” with genuine pride. At the time, this editor was an analyst covering the Latin American services sector for a Connecticut-based research firm. “Look, we want to show you the good things we are doing!” Apparently with no other motivation beyond civic pride and attracting investment and positive attention. “We are building the Metrocable system” a network of cable cars extending far up into low income hillside neighborhoods on the valley walls. “We are building it so everyone can participate in our economic growth,” they said, beaming with pride. Not politicians or political appointees, but entry-to mid-level civil servants.

After moving to Colombia, first to Bogotá and launching Finance Colombia, the outreach didn’t stop. Medellín kept calling. “Come see what we are doing!” In 2015, Finance Colombia published “Social Inclusion: The Secret Sauce To Medellín’s Incredible Renaissance.”

They were going about it pragmatically, person to person, neighborhood to neighborhood, but without any ideological polemics or Marxist-Leninist babbling. There was no talk of class struggle, no attack on the city’s beloved institutions, whether well-established like EPM or new innovations like Ruta-N. Generally, each succeeding administration handed the keys over to the next politely, and with decorum.

One thing that unites Paisas, especially those in Medellín is the progress the city has made, going in less than 3 decades from one of the most dangerous on earth to an international showcase. Startups and international businesses have entered Colombia by first setting up operations in Ruta-N then moving out into larger spaces as they gain a foothold in the country. Get in a taxi and instead of trying to rip you off like in some parts of the country, if the driver realizes you are a foreigner, they will inevitably ask “What do you think of Medellín?” and beam with pride like you just presented them their firstborn child if you have something nice to say.

When protesters rioted in Bogotá last November, partially destroying their own transportation infrastructure and battling with police, Paisas marched peacefully. A few vandals were quickly confronted by peaceful protesters, and students came to undo the defacing they caused.

Medellín has built a strong credit rating in international markets for municipal debt, and EPM has enjoyed an investment grade credit and risk profile. There has been a level of peace between labor and employer, business and government rarely seen elsewhere in Latin America. Is it run by saints? Of course not. But that is precisely why the checks and balances of good governance are important, and Quintero seems to either not understand this, or have other priorities. EPM provides the city with more than electricity, water, and natural gas services. The international corporation provides almost 30% of the city’s revenue by way of operating profits. The fortunes of every residence and business in the Aburrá Valley (where Medellín is the largest city) are tied to EPM. The vitality of the city’s foreign investment attraction is tied to Ruta-N. Investors, both institutional and global-minded individuals are attracted by collaboration and progress, and repelled by scandal, conflict and controversy.

Being a crusader is easy. Throwing tomatoes at pictures is easy. A child can do it. Governing is complex and requires accountability. Medellín Mayor Daniel Quintero is sawing at the very foundations of Medellín’s success, by attacking its governance and institutionalism. It may very well be a good idea to take legal action against the consortiums that are (still) building the Hidroituango dam. But to launch a multibillion-dollar lawsuit behind the back of your own board of directors? No deliberation by the body designed to deliberate such fundamental issues? Are we seeing dictatorial tendencies, the likes of which one would expect from a Banana-Republic Caudillo?

When criticized, the new mayor goes into attack mode. Seeing everyone from the labor unions to civic leaders as a cabal “out to get him.” This editor remembers seeing such behavior at the beginnings of Chavismo in Venezuela. It is also Donald Trump’s style. Attack someone who is offering constructive criticism and they often will instinctively get sidetracked trying to defend the legitimacy of their criticism, allowing attention to be shifted from the original critique, no matter how legitimate.

“Ah, he’s going after the elites,” one more populist journalist friend said to this editor, when the conflict between former directors and the mayor became public. “Who the hell do you want running a multibillion-dollar international energy company?” this editor replied. “They had damn sure better be elite and know what they are doing!”

The former EPM board had directors like Javier Gutiérrez, who was former president of oil giant Ecopetrol, and general manager of energy company ISA; Manuel Mejia, former general manager of Colombiana de Comercio (distributor or manufacturer of brands in Colombia such as AKT motorcycles, Foton trucks, Castrol lubricants, Royal Enfield motorcycles, and Kalley appliances); Andrés Correa, formerly part of the insurance multinational SURA; and one of EPM’s own retired executives: Jesús Aristizábal Guevara, a civil engineer.

The new EPM board of directors is notable for having a preschool teacher, community activists, former politicians, lawyers, but no large company leadership experience. The mayor did nominate a few, but they all refused. Now, the mayor’s new board will have to navigate the $2 billion USD litigation that he unilaterally launched, and the war he has started with what seems the entire political, business, civic, and even labor community of Medellín. What do they know about international capital markets and the mechanics of bond pricing and currency risk? This editor wishes them luck. We want to see EPM succeed and Medellín do well. The only way this will happen is if they make drastic course corrections. It is not too late for the mayor.

On the other hand, we are only 8 months into a four-year mayoral term. This editor has never seen so many disparate people and institutions unite since the 9/11 attacks in the US. There, the population at least temporarily united behind then President Bush. In August, 2020, sectors from labor to enterprise are all uniting against Quintero. He is at a juncture in his mayoralty. He can attempt to reconcile, or he can take Gustavo Petro’s style book and fancy himself the martyr and class-struggler that everyone is out to get.

Mayor Quintero talks about making Medellín what he calls “software valley,” but foreign investors will not locate to a destination mired in conflict that can’t keep its lights on. He was elected without a power base, to some degree a rejection of the Uribista alternative. He clearly views the civic dissatisfactions with his moves as an Uribista plot. Surely they are included in his menagerie of new opponents, but they weren’t the ones who led to a loss of $30 million USD in EPM’s outstanding bond value in the space of 3 days. There were no Uribistas behind Wall Street firm Fitch deciding to lower the utility’s credit ratings. The only “forces of darkness” Fitch cited was Quintero’s “deterioration of corporate governance controls at the company.”

In this editorial, Finance Colombia calls on the mayor to rectify his course and work in a more collaborative, professional and transparent spirit with all the city’s stakeholders, or alternatively on Paisas to democratically and civilly protect the trajectory of amazing progress the city has made in the last two decades. Choose quiet progress over loud and bombastic stagnation. Cooperation over tomato-throwing confrontation.

Medellín Mayor Daniel Quintero (Photo courtesy Alcaldia de Medellín)

The year-to-date total of 152,482 so far is also 2.9% below the number of registrations from January through August 2016, reported the organization. Despite that slight downturn, FENALCO still projects the year-long total in 2017 to be above the sum seen last year.

Chevrolet, the leading automotive brand in Colombia, accounted for 22.0% of the total in August. It was followed by Renault (20.3%), Nissan (8.8%), Kia (8.5%), and Mazda (7.6%). Together, these five leading brands represented 67.2% of the automobiles registered last month.

Compared to August 2016, Nissan showed the highest growth at 23.6%. Mazda was nearly steady (with 0.6% growth), while Renault (a drop of -2.1%), Chevrolet (-12.8%), and Kia (-20.6%) all had negative results.

Only Chevrolet had more vehicles registered in August than Renault, and the two companies combined to make up nearly half of all registrations in Colombia. (Photo credit: Jared Wade)

In terms of specific makes, the top five models registered so far this year in Colombia are Chevrolet Spark, Chevrolet Sail, Renault Sandero, Renault Logan, and Kia Picanto. The Sendero has seen the biggest improvement compared to its performance at this time last year, while the other four all showed declines in comparison to August 2016.

In terms of the types of vehicles registered, FENALCO divides the automobile industry in Colombia into various different categories: cars, utility vehicles, pickups, wagons, vans, freight cars, commercial cars, and taxis. Registrations for utility vehicles and pickups were the only categories that showed an increase in August. Utility vehicles recorded the largest growth in registrations, with a 7.8% uptick, while pickups increased their numbers by 5.0%.

Geographically, Bogotá continues to dominate the market. The capital contributed more than one-third (34.2%) of all registrations in August, while the next two largest Colombian cities, Medellín and Cali, accounted for 15.4% and 11.0%, respectively.

Bogotá and Medellín each showed a slight improvement, jumping 2.6% and 1.6% from the same month in 2016. Bucaramanga, the capital of the Santander department in eastern Colombia, had the biggest decline among large cities at -11.9%.

Automobiles were not the only transportation category to show disappointing numbers last number. Motorcycle buying has also been sluggish throughout 2017, with just 279,914 motos registered from January through the end of July. This is down 14.5% from the 327,613 registered from January through July in 2016.

The five most-registered brands of motorcycles this year in July were Bajaj, Yamaha, Honda, AKT, and Suzuki.

Key to it all is the printed circuit boards (PCBs) that power the various electronics, gadgets, and technology that Invertrónica sells both in Colombia and across the world. As it expands, the company is also currently trying to capitalize on the Internet of Things concepts that have the potential to change the word.

To explain all this and more, Fernando Velez, manager of Grupo Invertrónica, recently sat down to speak with Finance Colombia in Medellín.

One of the many electronics that use Invertrónica’s printed circuit board manufacturing. (Credit: Loren Moss)

Finance Colombia: I know that your core operations center on creating electronics. But your business is also a little bit complicated. Can you tell us what exactly it is that Invertronica does?

Fernando Vélez: We have been making a name for ourselves in the market for the last 13 years when the electronic engineers and companies didn’t develop hardware products. This was because they didn’t know how to do it or why they should do it.

They faced a great number of difficulties. The electronic design is difficult because the electronic components have to be high quality, and they have to be able to get them locally in adequate quantities. So we appeared to gather up all the parts of an electronic product and put them together to offer it on the market.

Today in Colombia, although we may not be the only electronics company, we are really the only company that comprises the whole panorama — from development and design to delivery of a completely finished product.

Finance Colombia: How is the company structured?

The Invertronica Group is made up of several companies, including TECREA for designing and developing made-to-measure products. And there is LosComponentes.com.co, which provides the parts to be able to make, in the first stage, a prototype, but then also production.

A tech employee puts together a gadget at Invertrónica’s office in Medellín. (Credit: Loren Moss)

And finally there is, let’s say the company that’s the mother hen of the chicks, the biggest company: Colcircuitos. Colcircuitos is in charge of electronic manufacturing. It has a plant made up of close to 70 people using state-of-the-art technology. We are developing prototypes in record time. While an engineer may need a month — or a month-and-a-half — to develop a prototype, today Colcircuitos hands over a printed-circuit prototype in 24 hours, which is a very, very good time for the market.

Previously, with development, in a month you have a prototype — and it’s not operational yet. You have to wait another month, and so the whole development can take six months. In the model that we set up, in a month you can have three or four prototypes and get to work quickly to attend to the urgency that the market demands.

So that’s the Invertronica Group, the three companies, a quantity of allies in the world, in North America, in Europe, in Asia, that allows us to attend to all the immediate needs that a client requires, both in Colombia and in the whole world.

Finance Colombia: How difficult is it to compete with the large Asian manufacturers?

Fernando Vélez: I’m not going to compete with China. Definitely, we’re not going to compete with China. That’s not our idea. We’re going to be offering a much more integrated product with added value, in smaller volumes — but with a much higher value. That’s our idea.

Where they look for us is to try to integrate big software developments and see how we can make the hardware, like with the Internet of Things. In IoT, we’re right in the front row. All those who want to want to make a platform, we’re right there to provide the hardware. In the next three years, that is going to be key.

We’ve already found and inserted alliances with suppliers of parts and electronics specifically for the Internet of Things. We’re going to work hand-in-hand to form a culture, a way of thinking, so that devices can be developed. And we will be the ones delivering hardware because we already have to deliver software. We have already made more or less five processes that we’ve carried out.

Finance Colombia: How is the business going in Colombia?

Fernando Vélez: Today, in Colombia, we are attending to more or less 3% of the market as far as PCBs — printed circuit boards — are concerned, and our projection is in fact to be able to move into 2020 with a greater share. We hope to be able to have 10% of that market. In sales, last year we closed with 5,000 million pesos.

Visitors look on as one of Invertrónica’s workers demonstrates how the technology works. (Credit: Loren Moss)

Finance Colombia: What kinds of partnerships have been important to Invertronica?

Fernando Vélez: Thanks to contacts with the people from Social Atom, we got a company from Silicon to “dig us up” as far as the ecosystem goes in the area of software. And they trust us to make hardware for them, to develop their hardware, and we have already closed the deal. We signed the contract.

It’s a highly innovative product to penetrate mainly into the North American market, and they have already invited us to get to know the Chinese manufacturing market.

We are going to close the deal very, very well with a company named Chuy in the Silicon Valley, because there are many actors in the ecosystem waiting to see what will happen there to be able to expand themselves more towards their markets. They’re going to do the basic development with us, the basic prototypes. We’ll get started from there. We’re going to make 100 units as pre-production with field tests. And then we’re going for 1,000 units in the following production. We receive the raw material, crude, copper plate, fiberglass, and we make it into a printed circuit.

Finance Colombia: This is imported? The raw material?

Fernando Vélez: The raw material is imported. It’s all imported. Colombia doesn’t produce anything for what we make. Everything is imported, except for intermediate processes — like chemicals — that are produced locally. But the raw material is imported. We turn this into a printed circuit.

Then we import our electronic components, and we get what you have always seen in one of these gadgets when you take it apart, which is the circuit with all its assembled components.

For one product, for example, we have made it in several versions for the same client — close to six thousand devices, operating today with no problems in the automobile sector. It’s an ABN for monitoring satellites for one of the most important satellite companies in Colombia, and we made this product for them five or six months ago with very robust technology.

Finance Colombia: What are some other examples of the technology you are producing?

Fernando Vélez: In the world of LEDs — another important horizon in electronics — we´re working on LED illumination. Today, for AKT Motorcycles, through a client of ours, we handed over 10,000 explorer lights monthly for top-line AKT motorcycles.

Imports, exports, and constant orders have helped Invertrónica capture 3% of Colombia’s printed circuit board market, according to the company. (Credit: Loren Moss)

We also developed a module, for a “paisa” company here in Colombia, for electric public illumination. We made a network of lampposts, and all of the posts come with their devices. One of them is the master that reports to a platform and I can remotely control all the public illumination in a city.

Moreover I can get information and also regulate. That means that at six o’clock in the evening, when there’s still light, the lights only operate at 10% of their brightness capacity. But, at eight o’clock at night, 100% of the light is necessary. That has already been done.

Finance Colombia: How will the arrival of “flexibles” affect you? Like the circuits they’re already making in a flexible form?

Fernando Vélez: Yes, we make those too — and multi-layered. That means not only simple ones with only one surface with components but also multi-layered. That means that today we are on the cutting edge of what is happening in the electronics market: in surface-mount, but also in BGA, and micro-BGA. We’re right there.

And when a “flexible” is required, we’re there to offer it. Now, since we are integrators, we have providers all over the world so that we can interact and offer to the market. It doesn’t necessarily mean that we manufacture it here. It could be that we get it from outside, and then we integrate it, and we offer it on the market.

Finance Colombia: How much have you been affected by the peso’s devaluation?

Fernando Vélez: Before it was easier for Colombian industries to import. Today, due to the increase of the dollar, with respect to prices, we are looking for prices in Colombia and we’re being impacted by the question of the NIP (National Internal Product).

But everything is going well. I think that this is the first time that a company with development of high technology trusts a Colombian company to do everything. It´s the first time that Colombia, for example, produces 10,000 monthly in high-profile electronics. That had never happened before in Colombia.

Royal Enfield boasts that it is the world’s oldest bike maker that has always maintained continuous production, and the company is best known as the World War II supplier that provided the British military with the “Flying Flea,” a tiny motorcycle that could be dropped by parachute along with paratroopers as they entered combat. The firm is growing fast in India and first partnered with the Bogotá-based Corbeta Group to begin distributing its bikes in Colombia in July 2014. It already has two dealerships, one in Bogotá and another in Medellin, and plans to open two more in the country.

Royal Enfield has its sights set on the Colombian market.

“Colombia is a strategic market for Royal Enfield given the potential of its motorcycle industry and the fabulous riding terrain,” said Lal when his company entered the market. He added that “Royal Enfield brings to Colombia a new category of mid-sized motorcycles that will make leisure motorcycling more accessible and fun.”

As important as the company considers selling more motorcycles, targeting this leisure market is key. Its stores will hawk clothing and accessories to promote Royal Enfield as a lifestyle brand. This isn’t just a Colombian push, as the firm wants to become a global leader in the mid-size motorcycle segment at the same time it raises its standing among enthusiasts. Similar brand-expanding ventures are planned in London, Paris, and Madrid, but Royal Enfield’s targeted focus on an Andean nation whose population lacks the purchasing power of those in Europe’s capitals shows how lucrative the company thinks the Colombian market can be.

Growing domestic demand

Traditionally, the Colombian motorcycle market has been about transportation, not lifestyle, leisure, or luxury. Cheap motorcycles fill the streets in larger cities and rural villas, alike. They are low-cost options to get to work in a country where only 100 out of every 1,000 people own a vehicle of any sort, according to an April report from the bank BBVA. For comparison, more than 800 per 1,000 have an automobile in the United States. Economic differences between the two nations give little practical value to such a comparison, but even Argentina and Mexico have around three times as many vehicles per person as Colombia, while Brazil and Chile each have about twice as many.

Such data “shows the sector’s possibilities,” according to BBVA, and because many Colombian families still cannot afford a car, the motorcycle market continues to grow. Only 15% of households owned a motorcycle in 2008 compared to 23% in 2014.

Hero MotoCorp opened a $70 million USD manufacturing facility outside Cali

Growth like this in a nation of nearly 50 million people makes for easy math, and many companies are seeing the lower-end motorcycle market as a great investment in Latin America’s third-most populous country.

India’s largest motorcycle company,  Hero Motor Corp, invested $70 million into a factory last year in Cauca department’s Villa Rica. Sales have begun and its plans are aggressive: Hero Moto hopes to open 150 sales outlets and produce some 150,000 motorcycles per year in a country where 645,000 were sold in 2014. Some of these bikes will be assembled domestically and exported, but Hero Moto sees enough potential in Colombia that it reportedly tried to sign local football superstar James Rodriguez to an endorsement deal.

“Colombia is one of the top two-wheelers markets in South America and therefore, it is going to play a significant role as we continue to expand our footprint in the region,” said company CEO Pawan Munjal in a statement. “Going forward, we will aim at making Colombia a base for expanding our operations to neighboring countries in the region”

The nascent lifestyle market

Each year, Medellin hosts the nation’s largest bike conference, Feria de las 2 Ruedas, which celebrated its ninth anniversary this May with a three-day trade show that it says featured visitors from 30 countries. The gathering has become arguably the second-most-important motorcycle convention in Latin America, after Salão Duas Rodas in Brasil, and its popularity highlights the emerging biker scene that has drawn in Royal Enfield and others.

Harley Davidson already has an active rider community in Colombia

Becoming a lifestyle brand is well-worn territory for Harley Davidson. The U.S. company is synonymous with biker culture, and it too has been making inroads in Colombia, where per capita income has doubled, from $6,620 to $13,460, since 2000 and given rise to a middle class that now has the disposable income to buy toys.

Though the company generally markets its smaller, more-affordable motorcycles, not its $40,000 “hogs” in Latin America, the company says it sold more than 11,000 bikes in the region in 2013. This was a jump of 13% over the previous year, and although Mexico and Brasil are a larger focus, Harley Davidson has been encouraged by its growth in Colombia. The sales have been promising enough that it has put two dealerships in the nation compared to just one each in the other 16 countries in the region where it operates as of late 2014.

Selling in Colombia isn’t seamless even for Harley, however. One issue is altering its bikes to fit Colombia’s geography. “The changes that are made to the Harley Davidsons in Colombia are mountain-type gearboxes: longer gearboxes  that can withstand the topology of the Andes,” said Cristiano Alvaros, commercial director of Harley Davidson for Colombia, in a conversation with Finance Colombia. He added that Harley Davidson also adjusts the suspension to deal with mountain terrain and the potholes prevalent throughout cities like Bogotá.

Ducati finds sales in Colombia encouraging for its premium product targeted towards the highest end of the market

Ducati is another firm appealing to the premium buyer. The company knows its bikes are too expensive for Colombians who use motorcycles as cheap transport. “People don’t use it for work, really,” Ducati advisor Giorgio Matriales told Finance Colombia. “If you’re getting a motorcycle for work, you get another low-cc motorcycle. These motorcycles are wanted because they like to go about all over Colombia.”

But Matriales says Ducati is encouraged by its sales so far and believes that offerings like the mid-sized Scrambler have great potential. “The figures are rising at the moment, even though the motorcycles haven’t been in the market for long,” he said.

Making room on the roads

Colombia has nearly 50 million people, an emerging middle income segment, but a road system that the World Economic Forum recently ranked 126th out of 144 countries analyzed. There is a desperate need for more mobility, and motorcycles remain the best option for those cannot afford a car or want a nimble way to navigate the notoriously bad traffic in the nation’s capital.

Colombia is a also a country with beautiful terrain, from coastal deserts and jungle paths to Andean passes and palm forested roadways. More-affluent bike enthusiasts want top-end bikes to ride through all these landscapes.

AKT is a Colombian domestic motorcycle manufacturer with plans to expand internationally.

AKT, an Envigado, Antioquia-based Colombian motorcycle company, has been treading on both sides of this line since it entered the market more than a decade ago. It offers motorcycles suited for various income levels and reportedly sold around 80,000 of them in 2011. It has street bikes and others designed for touring. Since its inception, getting started by importing motorcycles from China, it has sought to understand the nation’s nuanced market.

“We brought the Chinese motorcycles, and we ‘Colombianized’ them, to put it in a way,” AKT’s Santiago Montoya told Finance Colombia at the Feria de 2 Ruedas. “We adapted it to the Colombian market, to how the Colombian customer liked it, and that’s how we began with the work.“

The company has learned a lot in a decade of operating, but a few things are clear to AKT now: The Colombian consumer base is large, the market growing, and Colombians of all income levels want a little bit of everything. “The Colombian market is a demanding market that demands both design and quality in a product,” said Montoya. “The Colombian idiosyncrasy likes good things, pretty things.”

All photos credit: Loren Moss, and were taken at the 2015 Feria de las 2 Ruedas in Medellin’s Plaza Mayor.