September saw the growth in sales of new motorcycles dip below double figures for the first time in several months, as the market saw a 7.2% overall increase in sales when compared with September of the previous year.
Sales of new motorcycles and scooters were actually up 10.3%, equivalent to an additional 1,153 new units sold, but moped sales were down once again, by 17.1% for the month.
The biggest percentage rise came from the Custom segment, which saw growth of 28.5%, followed closely by Adventure Sport which saw sales increase by 26.4%. Supersport bike sales were up by 17.8%, whilst Naked style motorcycle sales grew by 16.7%. Trail & Enduro bike sales grew by 8.7%, whilst the Scooter, Sport Touring and Touring segments were all down, by 6.6%, 15.6% and 11.5% respectively for the month. Excluding the struggling moped sector, sales for the year are up an impressive 15% overall, or more than 11,000 units, with four month’s worth of figures still to go.
The 0 – 55cc engine band saw a drop in new sales of 17.4%, or around 240 units. The learner legal 51 – 125cc engine band saw growth of 11% for the month, whilst the A2 licence legal 126 – 650cc legal engine band saw a drop of 12%, although it is still up 11.8% for the year overall this year so far. There was strong growth in the A1 legal 651 – 1000cc engine band, which saw sales increase by 22.5% for the month, which may be a sign of more riders moving on to bigger bikes, but could also signify that established riders have plenty of cash to splash with their local dealer and are looking at the latest range of models. There was also strong growth in bike sales over 1000cc, which were up 16% for the month when compared with September 2014.
As always, Honda were the top selling manufacturer, with 2,457 new units sold in September. The surprising thing was the scale of things this month, with Honda selling almost 1,000 more units than 2nd placed Yamaha, who shifted 1,472 bikes, closely followed by BMW in 3rd with 1,417. That’s the closest another manufacturer has come to knocking Yamaha off the 2nd spot since we started reporting these figures in January 2014. Lexmoto make a surprise appearance in 4th with 1,001 units sold, squeezing Triumph into 5th, as the British brands sales also hit four figures with 1,000 new units registered. Suzuki and Kawasaki make up the final places with 878 and 616 new machines sold respectively.
The top selling bike of the month was once again the CB125F from Honda, which has held that honour for the last three months in a row. Honda sold 317 of the learner legal nakeds in September.
By style, the top selling models were as follows:
- Adventure Sport – BMW R1200GS Adventure
- Custom – Harley-Davidson Sportster N883
- Naked – Honda CB125F
- Scooter – Honda PCX125
- Sport Touring – BMW R1200RS
- Supersport – Honda CBR125R
- Touring – BMW R1200RT
- Trail & Enduro – Honda CRF250L
What is not clear from these figures is how many of the new bikes were purchased using the extremely popular PCP finance packages currently available on the market, and how these deals are affecting aftermarket sales. Are riders replacing their bikes more often? Or simply adding to their garage because they can now afford to? Or is there genuine new blood on the market in the form of young riders taking their first steps on the road, and older people discovering the joy of motorcycles later in life?
It would be interesting to know!
