Originally Posted by
nateintokyo
...when did they pull out of the US?---the Panasonic custom order frames and amazing paint job options are still available in Japan
$775 road or track in steel, $1,000-1,600 depending on frame type for titanium.
1989 was the last year in the US for Panasonic. The reasons were twofold. First, Japanese bicycles got very expensive after the 1985 yen re-evaluation. Secondly, the ratio of profit margin to required warehouse space was very low for bicycles compared to other product lines, so it was decided that the warehouse space would be better utilized by dropping the bicycle line.