As news was released that German economic recovery appears to be faltering, the IVM, the German motorcycle industry trade association, released data for July that appears to show that the recovery in the German motorcycle and PTW market may also be slowing down.
German motorcycle registrations in July were up by 3.3 percent (9,762 units), but that follows 9.3 percent growth in June and greater than 10 percent monthly growth in each of the first three months of the year.
Indeed July 2013 saw nearly 23 percent growth over July 2012, and for the seven months of the year to date the German market is up by 9.5 percent (75,975 units), but that represents a sixth straight month in which the rate of growth has declined.
In total PTW terms, July was down fractionally (-0.5 percent / 15,034 units) from July 2013 (which had been up over 16 percent over July 2012), and for the year to date the market is running at 7.7 percent up (106,569 units), itself also a sixth straight month of growth slowdown.
Motorcycle sales in Germany peaked in March, in monthly terms, at 19,141 units. In all likelihood, the remaining five months of the year will still see the German market emerge from 2014 with some growth, as the final five months last year only accounted for 18,027 registrations - meaning only a further 11,500 registrations are required to exceed the 2013 full year figure.
