Bike sales drop 17.8% in April
Added on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Bike sales drop 17.8% in April
The latest new motorcycle and scooter registration figures for April 2010 have been released, Alastair Walker looks at which bikes and manufacturers are selling well this spring.
April may have seen some sunshine, but motorcycle sales remain in recession across the UK, with a drop of 17.8% in new registrations for motorcycles and scooters above 50cc. The good news is that sub-50cc mopeds and scooters suffered a very slight drop of just 1.8% last month, suggesting that the deepening recession is finally pushing reluctant commuters to try two wheels rather than four, or put up with unreliable public transport.
insidebikes spoke to Nick Brown at AJS Motorcycles down in Hampshire, who report that their 125cc machines are selling well this spring;
“The DD125 remains our top selling model, and we’re into a Mk II version of the machine in 2010, we’re also finding that the revamped EOS and the Bobber 125, which are a little more expensive, are popular with first time bikers. We’re about to launch a custom scooter to run alongside the Exactly 50 and 125 models and we are seeing a definite upturn in demand for the lightweight commuter machines after a dismal 2009. All we are hoping now is that the government don’t bring in new rules and taxes which make motorcycling any more expensive, plus a good summer would be handy.”
April was a patchy month sales-wise on bigger machines. Adventure Sport class bikes fell by 29% and Supersports dropped by 26%, continuing their long term decline as the typical bike buyer gets older every year. Just 1673 supersport bikes were registered in April, which considering the MCIA counts models like the CBR125F Honda as a sportbike, shows how genuinely sporty machines are becoming a relatively small percentage of the overall market. Some 8844 two-wheelers above 50cc were registered last month, so sportbikes now account for less than 20% of the entire new machine market above 50cc, a decade ago it was around a third.
Dealers remain positive this spring however. Neil Morris at Lancaster Honda says that the dealership has sold twelve VFR1200s since the Feb launch, with 11 new Honda machines sold in April, with sales right across the range;
“The demand for the CBR600 or 1000 sportbikes is still there, but models like the CBR125 and CBF1000 all-rounder remain popular.” commented Neil, adding, “We are also seeing much stronger interest in the smaller bikes this year as well, plus clothing and accessory sales are holding up.”
The VFR1200 saw 138 new registrations in April, whilst the CBR1000RR notched up 149. Other strong sellers included the BMW R1200RT at 106, and 111 examples of the always popular R1200 GS adventure touring machine were sold. BMW edged ahead of Kawasaki in overall manufacturer sales last month, with 683 units, against 671 for Kawasaki. You wonder how BMW would stack up against Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha if the Japanese brands had their sub 400cc models discounted from the sales figures.
One final note, Triumph were the third most popular manufacturer last month, with 954 registered machines. Who would have bet on that just four or five years ago?
Loading ...
No Comments