The latest statistics released by the German motorcycle industry trade association (IVM) for the period to the end of December 2017 are affected by the year-ago rush to pre-register unsold 2016 Euro 3 inventory before the December 31st, 2016 deadline.
In motorcycle registration terms, the market was said to have been down by -79.09 percent in December on low volumes (2,006 units), having been (theoretically) down by -22.46 percent in November, -14.18 percent in October and -22.46 percent in September.
For the full year new registrations in Germany are down by -14.21 percent at 100,877 units. However, allowing for the Euro 3 pre-registration effect and other factors affecting dealer inventory and unit sales for 2017, the market in Germany was, in all probability, broadly ‘flat’ for 2017, in the region of between -2.5 and +2.5 percent in motorcycle sales terms.
Though heavily incentivised units, the Euro 3 models that were pre-registered in the final quarter of 2016 will still have ben “new” machines as far as consumers are concerned and will have been sold during the first half of this year, artificially reducing the apparent market performance. The pre-registrations pushed the German 2016 statistics to show an artificially high +15.01 percent for the year, German new motorcycle registrations have been +5.59 percent and +10.75 percent for 2015 and 2014 respectively.
Total PTW registrations are said to have been -19.10 percent for 2017 in Germany at 139,831 units (compared to 172,846 in 2016 and 150,550 in 2015). The German market bottomed-out at 122,519 total new PTW registrations in 2010, and notwithstanding the effects of the recent statistical anomalies, has grown steadily ever since.
As is usual these days, BMW’s R 1200 GS continues its inexorable march towards domination, with 8,333 units reported as sold in Germany in 2017, leaving Yamaha’s MT-07 eating its dust in second with 3,493 units sold, followed by the Kawasaki Z 650 (2,665 units), Honda’s CRF 1000 ‘Africa Twin’ (2,562 units) and Kawasaki’s Z 900 (2,203 units); next come the BMW R nineT, Honda NC 750 X, KTM 690 Duke, BMW S 1000 R and KTM 1290 Superduke R.
With 7 models in the top 20 selling list, it is again no surprise that BMW was motorcycle (and total PTW) market share leader for 2017 in Germany, with 24,750 motorcycle units sold for a 24.53 percent increased market share. Honda is second (12,653 units sold for a 12.54 percent market share), with Yamaha third (10,874 units sold for a 10.78 percent market share), followed by Kawasaki, KTM, Harley-Davidson, Ducati, Triumph, Suzuki, with Husqvarna tenth.
