The latest EU-wide new motorcycle registration statistics released by ACEM (Association des Constructeurs Européens de Motocycles), the Brussels based international motorcycle industry trade association, show new PTW (powered-two- and three-wheeler) registrations continuing to grow during January and February at +11.5% (129,387 units).
Registrations performed positively in Italy (27,933 units, +26%), Spain (19,665 units, +24.4%), UK (10,669 units, +18.3%), but decreased in Germany (13,799 units, - 4.7%).
However, cumulative motorcycle registrations grew by 18.9% during the first two months of 2016 on a year-on-year basis. A total of 99,363 motorcycles were registered between January and February 2016, against 83,573 during the same period of 2015.
Year-on-year motorcycle registrations increased in most key European markets, including Italy (24,954 units, +29.5%), Spain (17,763 units, +29.1%), UK (9,641 units, 20.5%), Germany (12,709 units, +11%) and France (18,547 units, +4.4%).
A total of 30,024 mopeds were registered during the first two months of 2016 in the EU, whilst 32,514 had been registered during the same period of 2015. This represents a decrease of -7.7%.
'mild weather has been boosting sales'
Registrations increased in some of the key markets such as the Netherlands (7,813 units, +7.2%) and Italy (2,979 units, +2.3%); but they continued to decrease in Spain (1,902 units, -7.1%) and France (9,687 units, -1.3%).
These results are based on information available to ACEM as at 7 April 2016. At that time registration data for some EU markets, such as Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Greece and Germany, was either not available, or not fully available, or not fully tabulated yet.
However, the positive trend from the end of 2015 is confirmed. Total combined motorcycle and moped registrations increased by 5.6% in EU markets in 2015, to 1,210,534 units, with motorcycle registrations driving growth at +10.3 percent (885,018 units).
If EU growth overall is running in the region of 10 percent or more so far this year, then a projection of total motorcycle registrations for 2016 in the region of 1 million units for the first time in several years is not out of the question, with total PTW registrations likely to push the 1.3 million mark.
Commenting in February, when the 2015 full-year data was released, ACEM Secretary General Antonio Perlot had said that "we will still need to wait until July 2016 to assess whether this is a real recovery, but the sector seems to have regained momentum", and that momentum appears to be continuing.
However, the mild weather has no doubt been boosting sales, and it will be some months before we know if some of the sales transactions seen so far are ones that are simply taking place earlier, or if riding-friendly conditions can give the market a genuine boost this year.
Perlot went on to say that "the sector still faces a delicate situation in Europe. The 1.21 million vehicles that were registered in 2015 are still less than half the registration levels we saw before the economic crisis; some 2.43 million units were registered in 2007, so while the return to growth seen since the summer of 2013 is to be welcomed, of course, there is still a long way to go before we know just how robust the long-term trend looks".
