With the registration of new motorcycles and scooters on the up in 2014, the big question as the industry closed out the year was could we break the 100,000 unit barrier for the first time in several years?
Well, with the release of the December 2014 figures from the Motorcycle Industry Association it appears that yes, we can!
With another 4,554 new bikes on the road in December, up more than 400 on the same month in 2013, the total number of new bikes registered in 2014 hit 101,277. That’s heading towards an extra 10,000 brand new machines sold last year. That’s the strongest it has been since 2009.
Moped sales were down 1.2% for the year as a whole, but December did see a small 0.4% rise. However, with another strong increase of 12.3% in December 2014, motorcycle and higher powered scooter sales were up 11.7% for the year, with 90,673 being registered overall.
All styles of motorcycle saw increased sales in 2014. The Naked bike segment led the way with a 32.1% increase in sales, equivalent to over 5,500 units. That was followed by a 13% rise in Touring sales, and an 11.4% rise in the sale of Custom machines. Trail & Enduro were up 8.1%, Scooter rose by 7.1% and Adventure Sport bikes enjoyed a 4.2% increase in sales. The supposedly flagging Supersport sector saw a 1.8% rise, with almost 12,000 units sold in 2014, and Sport Touring was up by 1.5%, or 60 additional units.
By engine band, the 0 – 50cc sector was the only to see a fall in registrations in 2014, down 1% in total. The learner legal 51 – 125cc engine band was up 10.7%, hopefully an indication of some new blood coming into the market. The A2 licence legal 126 – 650cc engine band, which has been somewhat affected by changes in licence changes, was also up 3.8%, whilst the 651 – 1000cc engine band led the way with an 18.3% rise in sales. The over 1000cc segment was also up a strong 13.7%.
In December, Honda once again led the way in terms of manufacturers with 856 new bikes sold. Yamaha came in second once again with 464, and BMW in third with 333. Piaggio were close behind selling 320 new machines, followed by Triumph (227), KTM (196) and Kawasaki (177).
The highest selling model of the month was the Honda NSC110 WH (pictured) with 133 registered during December. By style, the top selling models in December were as follows:
- Adventure Sport – BMW R1200GS
- Custom – Harley-Davidson Sportster N883
- Naked – Honda CBF125M
- Scooter – Honda NSC110 WH
- Sport Touring – Kawasaki ER6F
- Supersport – Ducati 899 Panigale
- Touring – BMW F800GT
- Trail & Enduro – Honda CRF250L
These figures do not account for second hand bike sales, so it is impossible to say how many new and returning riders have hit the road on a newly purchased second hand machine in 2014.
This year’s big question – can we go even higher?
