ACEM

Motorcycle registrations up by 10.3% in 2015

According to the most recent data released by ACEM, the Brussels based international motorcycle industry trade association (Association des Constructeurs Européens de Motocycles), total motorcycle and moped registrations combined 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.
The largest PTW market was France with 242,885 units registered, although that is one of the few European markets were sales are still in decline at -3.4% compared to 2014.
That said, the decline in motorcycle sales in France has stopped with the market there 'flat' for the year (actually -0.1 percent) at 153,239 units.
That makes France Europe's second largest motorcycle market, with Italy the largest at 171,952 units, which is a healthy +9.9 percent over 2014. Total new PTW registrations in Italy were +6.3 percent (196,571 units).

Italy is largest m/c market, up by +9.9 %

 Germany is Europe's third largest market with 151,661 motorcycles registered (+7.1 percent) out of a total of 181,510 units (+3.2 percent). Spain is Europe's fourth largest motorcycle market, and fastest growing of the major markets in percentage terms, at  +18.9 for the year (total PTWs sales there were +17.6 percent at 148,488 units), with the UK Europe's fifth largest market at 105,358 units, which is +15.5 percent growth over 2014 (total PTW registrations in the UK were +12.7 percent, 114,752 units).
The trend towards more expensive larger displacement machines is good news for the manufacturers and their dealers, but the continuing weakness in the moped market remains a concern with EU-wide registrations (-5.5 percent for the year at 325,516 units).
The largest market for mopeds was France (89,646 mopeds, -8.7%), followed by The Netherlands (65,932 mopeds, +4.9%), Poland (30,430 mopeds, -25.3%), Germany (29,849 mopeds, -12.7%), and Italy (24,619 mopeds, -13.2%).
Spain was the only large European market in which moped registrations actually increased in 2015 with +7.8 percent growth (15,956 units).
BMW, Yamaha, Peugeot Scooters and Honda were the most popular brands in Europe in 2015, with BMW's R1200 GS motorcycle the top-selling model (16,112 units), followed by Yamaha's MT07 motorcycle (12,905 units), with Peugeot's KISBEE 5 moped third (12,332 units).
The fourth and fifth most registered models in the European Union were Yamaha's XP500 T-MAX 530cc (10,067 units) and Honda's SH150AD (8,879 units).
Commenting on the trends in the European motorcycle and moped market, ACEM Secretary General Antonio Perlot said: "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 in 2015.
"This was a very positive year for the industry, with registrations increasing in most European countries, particularly in the largest markets such as Italy, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.
"However, the sector still faces a delicate situation in Europe. In 2015 about 1.21 million vehicles were registered. That is still less than half the registration levels we saw before the economic crisis (2.43 million units were registered in 2007).
"This industry needs supportive policies that promote job creation in the manufacturing sector as well as vehicle exports to markets outside Europe".
Europe's "Big Five" markets (Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the UK) accounted for 80.76 percent of new motorcycle registrations in EU markets in 2015 (714,742 units), compared to 81.96 percent in 2014 (654,330 units).
At the time of going to press data for some of Europe's other markets (those in the EFTA zone such as Switzerland and Norway) had not yet been compiled, but in 2014 those markets added a further 43,975 to the total European picture.