The latest statistics released by the German motorcycle industry trade association (IVM) for the period to the end of April 2017 are still showing evidence of the effects of the rush to pre-register Euro 3 inventory before the December 31st 2016 deadline.
In motorcycle registration terms the market is said to be down by -25.29 percent compared to April 2016 (13,674 units from 18,303); that said, March is put at being +8.74 percent at 21,109 units (compared to 21,109 in March 2016), so the cycle may also have been affected by the serious weather that plagued most of Germany for some 10 days or so.
For the year to date the German market is put at -10.84 percent (41,956 units) for the first four months, with total PTW registrations YTD at -14.71 percent (53,357 units).
As usual these days, BMW’s R 1200 GS is the top seller in Germany so far in 2017 (4,061 units sold), with their R nineT variants second (1,392 units), the Kawasaki Z 650 third (1,181 units), Honda’s CRF 1000 Africa Twin fourth (1,181 units) and Yamaha’s MT-07 fifth (1,096 units).
With 10 models in the top 20 selling list, it is again no surprise that BMW is market share leader so far this year in Germany, with 11,976 units sold so far in total for a 28.54 percent market share and 4.21 percent unit gain over the 11,492 units they sold in the first four months of 2016.
Honda is second with 5,082 units sold so far for a 12.11 percent market share; Kawasaki is third (12.08 percent share, 5,070 units sold); Yamaha are fourth (10.01 percent share, 4,199 units) and Harley-Davidson continue to hold off KTM for fifth spot (7.92 percent share, 3,324 units).
Though distorted by the rush to pre-register Euro 3 inventory towards the end of the year, 2016 saw new motorcycle registrations in Germany up by +15.01 percent at 117,587 units – the best annual market performance in Germany since before 2008. In total Powered Two-Wheeler terms (PTW), the German market was +14.81 percent for 2016 at 172,846 units – also the best German market performance since before 2008.
