There has been another month of successive growth in new two wheel sales in the UK according to official statistics released by the Motorcycle Industry Association for September.
Overall registrations were up 6.4% when compared with September 2013, and there was also some welcome growth in the flagging moped sector which saw a 4.2% increase in registrations this month, with the Honda NSC50 2WH bucking the trend and selling 184 units. Motorcycle sales were up 6.7%, with an additional 700 units registered this September, when compared with the same month last year.
The naked bike segment once again saw the strongest level of growth, with an 18.6% rise in new registrations this month. So far, the naked segment is almost 5,000 units up on where it was at this time last year. Scooter sales continued to rise, growing by 7.7%, whilst the sport touring and adventure sport segments saw modest growth of 5.6% and 3.0% respectively. Trail and enduro machine sales hit 445 units in September, the exactly the same as the number of new models registered last year. Supersport sales fell by 2.3%, or 32 units, although the sector remains 119 units up on last year overall.
By engine band, the learner legal 51 – 125cc and the A1 licence holder 651 – 1000cc bands saw the strongest growth, by 10.5% and 12.8% respectively. The 126 – 650cc engine band, which has been much affected by the changes to motorcycle licencing, saw a small fall of 1.6% equivalent to 33 units, although it remains 1.4% up overall year on year. There was a modest 4.8% rise in thew registration of new 0 – 50cc machines, and a 0.4% rise in the sales of bikes over 1000cc.
Honda once again topped the manufacturer sales list, with 2,524 new units registered, and four top selling models across all ten bike segments. Yamaha were once again in second with 1,547, and BMW in third with 1,012. Triumph (975), Suzuki (911), Kawasaki (587) and Piaggio (579) made up the other top selling manufacturers for September 2014.
The top registering model was the Honda PCX125 scooter (pictured), and the highest registering bikes by segment were as follows:
- Adventure Sport – BMW R1200GS Adventure
- Custom – Harley-Davidson Sportster N883
- Naked – Honda CBF125M
- Scooter – Honda PCX125
- Sport Touring – Kawasaki Z1000SX
- Supersport – Yamaha YZF R125
- Touring – BMW R1200 RT
- Trail & Enduro – Honda CRF250L
So far in 2014, the two wheel industry has seen an additional 7,745 new units registered on the UK’s roads. With almost 5,000 of those additional units being ‘naked’ style bikes, we are left wondering why are they so popular with riders?
The market for them in the EU is growing, but in the US they aren’t very popular at all according to industry magazines.
Is it the back to basics style? The price? The performance and economy? All we know is, if they are helping to generate more interest in motorcycling in the UK, the trend is more than welcome to stay…
