Although registrations of new two wheelers in the UK have been on rise in all but one month this year when compared with 2013, the rate of increase has been slowing. That is however until July, which saw a big rise of 13.9% equivalent to 1205 registrations when compared with the same month last year.
For only the second month this year, mopeds and scooters up to 50cc saw an increase in registrations, 8.7% in total which means an additional 87 on top of last years 999 in July 2013. The motorcycle sector saw very strong growth with a 14.6% rise, equivalent to 1118 extra new units.
The biggest rise continued to stem from the naked motorcycle segment, which saw a 39.2% increase on July 2013, whilst custom saw a 20.5% rise and 13.6% in trail and enduro. There was also a small amount of growth in the supersport segment with a 3.7% increase equivalent to 41 extra units, although the buoyant adventure sport sector actually fell by 7.6% from 1,272 in July 2013 to 1,175 this July. Sport touring remained pretty constant with a small fall of 0.8% in new unit registrations.
In terms of engine size band, 0 – 50cc rose by 8.5% although it is still down -2.4% overall this year (148 fewer units) whilst 51 – 125cc exhibited continued strong growth with a 17.7% increase. The 126 – 650cc band was up 7.1%, but the strongest growth came in the 651 – 1000cc band with a 19.3% rise, just shy of the 19.5% increase it has seen so far this year. This could be a strong indicator that riders are skipping the 126 – 650cc bike band thanks to new licence regulations which appear to be making it more attractive for riders to wait until they qualify for direct access with a Mod 1 test. The over 1000cc segment was also up by 9.4%, or 149 additional units.
The top manufacturers haven’t changed, with Honda way out in front with 1,466 new units followed by Yamaha with 1,188 new units. In third Triumph have had another strong month with 829 new units registered, then BMW with 633, Kawasaki with 506, Harley-Davidson with 452 and Suzuki with 448.
The highest selling model this month was the Yamaha YZF R125 which sold a total of 217 units. The biggest sellers by sector are as follows:
- Adventure Sport – BMW R1200GS Adventure
- Custom – Harley-Davidson Sportster X1200
- Naked – Honda CBF125M
- Scooter – Honda PCX125
- Sport Touring – Kawasaki Z1000SX
- Supersport – Yamaha YZF R125
- Touring – BMW F800GT
- Trail & Enduro – Honda CRF250L
The huge popularity of the learner legal YZF R125 hopefully shows that their is a real appetite out there amongst new blood who want to get in to motorcycling. However, what these numbers don’t show us are the average ages of riders purchasing certain kinds of bikes. Let’s hope that if they are predominantly younger riders, that they stick with it for the long haul despite the cost and wait now required to obtain a full licence and a bigger bike.
