Sales of new motorcycles have been rising for pretty much the last 18 months at a healthy pace of just over 10%, but this June has seen industry figures take a big leap forward, with overall registrations of new two-wheelers up 19.2% on the same month of 2014. That’s an additional 2,113 extra units sold in the UK!
The only downside to this news was that the sales of new mopeds were down 7.8%, or 72 units – but motorcycle and larger capacity scooter sales were up a staggering 21.6%.
Trail & Enduro bike sales led the way, with a 50% increase in the number of new units registered. Custom bike sales rose by 34.7%, and Naked bike sales by 28.9%. Adventure Sport bike sales were also up a strong 25.6%, and Scooter sales also saw double digit growth of 14.5%. There was modest growth in the sales of new Supersport machines – 5.2% and the only segment which saw a drop in sales was the Touring bike segment, falling a total of 12% for the month of June, equivalent to 40 fewer units sold.
With moped sales falling once again, it is no surprise to see sales in the 0 – 50cc engine band falling, down a total of 8.7%. The learner legal 51 – 125cc engine band saw a rise of 12% in sales, and the A2 legal 126 – 650cc engine band saw a rise of 22.1%. There was a big rise in the sales of A1 licence legal 651 – 1000cc bikes, rising 36.6% compared with June 2014, or more than 900 additional units. Finally the 1000cc plus engine band was also up 22%.
As has been the case ever since we started posting these figures 18 months ago, Honda top the manufacturer sales figures, selling 2,070 new units. Yamaha again come in 2nd, with 1,568 new units sold in June, and BMW in 3rd with 1,304. Triumph occupy 4th spot with 1,239 and Suzuki see something of a resurgence by making it to 5th place with 863. Lexmoto and Kawasaki take 6th and 7th, selling 696 and 648 new units respectively.
The top selling bike of the month was the 2015 BMW R1200GS, whose popularity has helped BMW steal that 3rd place behind Honda and Yamaha from Triumph. By style, the top selling models were as follows:
- Adventure Sport – BMW R1200GS
- Custom – Harley-Davidson Sportster N883
- Naked – Yamaha MT-07 ABS
- Scooter – Honda PCX125
- Sport Touring – BMW R1200RS
- Supersport – Honda CBR125R
- Touring – BMW R1200RT
- Trail & Enduro – Honda CRF250L
With the summer season in full swing, and the weather looking good (well, some of the time anyway….) things are looking rosy for the UK motorcycle market in 2015!
