There seems to be no stopping the rise in new motorcycle sales in the UK, with January 2016 seeing an impressive 14.2% increase over the same month last year.
That 14.2% increase in sales was equivalent to an extra 721 new units sold, although when broken down sales of mopeds were down 8%, with scooters and motorcycles up 17%.
Sport Touring style machines saw the biggest percentage rise in sales, 30.8% for the month – although this only equates to 33 additional units. There were healthy increases in the sales of Adventure Sport, Custom and Scooter machines of 21.9%, 26.7% and 27.2% respectively. Sales of Naked bikes were up 8.6%, Tour sales increased by 7.6% and Trail & Enduro bike registrations rose by 15%. Only sales of Supersport bikes were down for the month, by -4.1% or 19 units.
In line with the drop in moped registrations, sales of 0 – 50cc machines were down 8.5%. The learner legal 51 – 125cc engine band saw a rise in sales of 21.9%, which is hopefully a positive sign of an increase in new riders entering the market. Sales of A2 licence legal 126 – 650cc machines were up 10.8%, and 651 – 1000cc machines by 22.1%. There was also a modest 4.8% rise in the sales of machines over 1000cc.
Honda was once again the top selling brand in the UK, with 1,096 new machines sold. For the first time since we started covering these monthly sales figures, Yamaha are not in second place, having been surpassed by budget brand Lexmoto who sold 624 machines in January. Yamah shifted 617 units to occupy 3rd place followed by Triumph (336), BMW (320), KTM (306) and Piaggio (276).
The top selling 2-wheeler in January was the Honda PCX125, which has been a consistent big seller for the Japanese manufacturer in the last 12 months.
The highest selling models by style were as follows:
- Adventure Sport – Honda CRF1000
- Custom – Harley-Davidson Sportster N883
- Naked – Honda CB125F
- Scooter – Honda PCX125
- Sport Touring – BMW R1200RS
- Supersport – Honda CBR125R
- Touring – BMW R1200RT
- Trail & Enduro – CRF250L
The Motorcycle Industry Association are predicting another healthy rise in sales for 2016, after last year beat expectations, and this first set of figures for the new year give us no reason not to believe their numbers!
