Despite some very mixed fortunes on the weather front in May, the growth in new motorcycle sales in the UK continued, up 10.7% on the same month last year from 10,509 to 11,638 units.
Motorcycle and scooter sales were up 13.1% in May, around additional 1,250 units, but the moped sector was down once again. It was 14.4% down for the month, and remains 11.1% down for the year as a whole so far, equivalent to 439 fewer units sold.
As has been the case for some time, the naked bike segment leads the way with a 28.6% rise in sales for May, with the Adventure Sport segment also seeing a strong rise of 28.1%. Scooter sales were up 11.7%, Custom sales up 6.8% and Trail & Enduro saw a modest rise of 2.8% – or 10 extra units sold this May. The Supersport sector remained stable, with a 0.2% rise in sales, although Sport Touring and Touring sales were down 24.9% and 16.8% respectively.
All engine bands saw a rise is sales except the 0 – 50cc band, which fell by 14.9%. The 51 – 125cc engine band was up by 19.4%, hopefully an indication of more riders getting their first small capacity motorcycle or scooter. The A2 legal 126 – 650cc engine band saw a rise of 10.3%, whereas the 651 – 1000cc engine band saw a sales rise of 14.2% this May. The plus 1000cc engine band was also up 3.8%.
As always, Honda top the units sold by manufacturer table, selling 1,963 new units in May 2015. However, Yamaha are catching up, with 1,779 units registered. Triumph follow them with 915, then BMW (840), Kawasaki (703), Lexmoto (604) and Ducati and Suzuki each sold 524 new bikes.
The top selling bike of the month was the Honda PCX125 (pictured) with 231 registered in May, and by style the top selling models were as follows:
- Adventure Sport – Yamaha MT-09 Tracer
- Custom – Harley-Davidson Sportster N883
- Naked – Yamaha MT-07 ABS
- Scooter – Honda PCX125
- Sport Touring – Kawasaki Z1000SX
- Supersport – Yamaha YZF R125 ABS
- Touring – BMW R1200RT
- Trail & Enduro – Honda CRF250L
With almost half the year gone, overall unit sales are up 11.3% – ahead of predictions made at the beginning of 2015 by the Motorcycle Industry Association. Long may it continue!
