The latest statistics released by the German motorcycle industry trade association (IVM) for the period to the end of May 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 up slightly at +1.56 percent compared to May 2016 (12,847 units, up from 12,650) after a dismal April which saw registrations running down by -25.29 percent at 13,674 units (compared to 18,303 in April 2016), but the cycle may 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 motorcycle market is put at -8.21 percent (54,803 units) for the first five months, with total PTW registrations YTD at -12.19 percent (70,810 units).
As usual these days, BMW’s R 1200 GS is the top seller in Germany so far in 2017 (5,004 units sold), with Kawasaki’s Z 650 jumping to second best seller (1,598 units), Yamaha’s MT-07 third (1,543 units), BMW’s R nineT fourth (1,522 units) and Honda’s CRF 1000 ‘Africa Twin’ fifth (1,462 units).
With five models in the top 10 selling list, it is again no surprise that BMW is market share leader so far this year in Germany, with 15,171 units sold in total for a 21.42 percent market share and 6.25 percent unit gain over the 14,279 units they sold in the first five months of 2016.
Honda is second with 9,298 units sold so far for a 13.13 percent market share; Yamaha is third (10.21 percent share, 7,231 units sold); Kawasaki fourth (9.24 percent share, 6,542 units), and KTM take the fifth spot from Harley-Davidson (7.93 percent share, 5,612 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.
