After a slight dip in sales in July, the picture for new motorcycle registrations in the UK during August is a more positive one, with an increase of 4% on the same month in 2015.
The sales of new mopeds are still flagging, down -18.1% for the month, but sales of motorcycles and larger capacity scooters rose a healthy 6.7% as the market starts to head back in the right direction once again.
The biggest percentage rise came in the Trail & Enduro segment, where 53% more new bikes were registered compared with August 2015. In terms of units, that’s an additional 177 new bikes. Scooter sales were up a healthy 15.9%, and Naked sales are still going strong with a 14.7%. Sales of Custom bikes also saw a modest increase in sales of 1.7%. Some segments did see a percentage drop in registrations for the month including Sport Touring (-6.7%), Supersport (-12.5%), Adventure Sport (-12.5%) and Touring (-19.4%).
In line with the fall in the registration of new mopeds, the 0 – 50cc engine band dropped by -17.2%, and remains down -8.5% for the year to date. Registrations of learner legal 51 – 125cc machines grew 12.2% for the month, and A2 licence legal 126 – 650cc sales also increased by 17.9%. However, sales of 651 – 1000cc and 1000cc+ machines did see a fall of -8.5% and -3.1% respectively, although both remain up year to date compared with 2015 figures.
After outselling Honda last month, Yamaha drop back to their more familiar second place in the sales by manufacturer league table. Honda sold 1,330 new bikes in August, whilst Yamaha managed 1,181. Lexmoto are back up to 3rd after selling an impressive 866 new bikes, with Triumph in 4th on 478. Kawasaki (460), Piaggio (373) and KTM (364) make up the final places.
The top selling bike of the month was the learner legal CB125F from Honda (pictured), a popular commuter or first step onto two wheels for many.
By style, the most popular bikes of the month were as follows:
- Adventure Sport – Lexmoto XFLM125 GY-2B
- Custom – Harley-Davidson Sportster N883
- Naked – Honda CB125F
- Scooter – Honda PCX125
- Sport Touring – Kawasaki Z1000SX
- Supersport – Yamaha YZF R125 ABS
- Touring – BMW R1200RT
- Trail & Enduro – Honda CRF 250 L
With four months of figures to go, the UK market is up 5.6% on last year so far.
Whilst that is a little below the circa 10% predicted by the MCIA late last year, it’s around an extra 4,500 new bikes sold already this year – so a pretty positive picture considering everything that’s gone on this year!
