UK Motorcycle Sales for 2021 exceed totals of 2020 and 2019 with a month to go

Sales of motorcycles in the United Kingdom continued to flourish in November 2021, ensuring the industry has already surpassed the annual totals from 2020 and 2019 with a month of the year remaining, while the Royal Enfield Meteor emerged as the best-selling motorcycle of all..

In all, 7,292 PTW (powered two-wheelers) were shifted during the course of the month according to the MCIA, representing a healthy rise of 21.9%, even if the figures were inflated by the UK entering its second national lockdown period in November 2020.

It means sales across all categories saw significant gains with the Scooter and Naked categories remaining the market leaders, accounting for almost half of all two-wheel models being sold.

It means sales for the year to date have risen to 108,383 units, already placing it clear of the full year totals of 2019 (107,408) and 2020 (104,612), with a month still to go.

As it stands, sales are up 12.1% to the end of November 2021 compared with the same period in 2020 (96,714), a positive outcome for an industry that like many others suffered in the wake of COVID, even if it did post a strong bounce back towards the latter half of the year.

Figures were boosted by the continued growth of the electric sector with November 2021 sales compared with November 2020 up 143.1%, contributing to a year-to-date rise of 158.4% (5,615 vs 2,173).

Best-selling motorcycles in the UK for November 2021

Honda maintained its place at the head of the sales charts with 952 sales of its models over the course of the month, though it was much closer behind it with Yamaha just holding off scooter and small-capacity specialists Lexmoto for second.

Triumph and Royal Enfield were barely separated in fourth and fifth as their respective Triumph Trident and Royal Enfield Meteor models continued to sell strongly for the brands, the latter emerging as the best-selling individual model of all with 284 sales.

KTM and BMW also had segment leaders - the KTM 300 EXC TPI in the Competition category and the BMW R 1250 GS Adventure / RT in the Adventure / Touring - to land sixth and seventh on the sales table, with Kawasaki, Piaggio and Vmoto completing the top ten.