Bike sales up year-on-year

AMONG the doom and gloom of bike thefts and impending ULEZ charges, there’s finally some good news for the bike industry – sales are up!

According to data released by the Motorcycle Industry Association, the Powered Two Wheeler (PTW) market bucked the turbulent retail trend to finish 2018 slightly ahead of 2017, an increase which has been attributed to more people commuting on bikes and scooters.

The strongest growth was seen in the 51-125cc and 126-650cc segments, with respective year-on-year growths of 6.8% and 13%. In 2018, 33,790 51-125cc bikes (which include space efficient, zero and low-emission machines) were sold, compared to 31,633 the previous year. Meanwhile, 126-650cc sales increased from 17,714 in 2017 to 20,016 in 2018. Now, that’s what we want to hear!

While December itself saw more than 1,000 less registrations (of mopeds, motorcycles and tricycles) than the same period in 2017, last year as a whole saw a 0.3% growth, from 105,466 to 105,816.

This is made up of a 2.9% growth of motorcycles (from 96,943 in 2017 to 99,751 in 2018), a -29.7% decline of moped sales (from 7,712 in 2017 to 5,418 in 2018) and a -20.2% decline of tricycle sales (from 811 in 2017 to 647 in 2018).

Interestingly, December’s highest registering model in the 126-500cc engine band was KTM’s 300 EXC TPI two-stroke enduro, selling 51 units. As would be expected, BMW’s R 1200 GS Adventure was the most popular above 1,000cc, shifting 91.

Alongside the new figures, the MCIA reiterated its belief that increased consideration of PTWs and other Powered Light Vehicles within Government transport and road planning would persuade many drivers away to swap from four wheels to two, especially in locations where walking, cycling and public transport are not an option.