The latest quarterly EU new registrations data released by the Association des Constructeurs Européens de Motocycles (ACEM), the Brussels based international motorcycle industry trade association, put EU new motorcycle registrations at 830,694 units for the first 9 months of the year, a +8.2 percent increase.
With 186,487 units (a +5.1% increase on a year-on-year basis) Italy remains the largest European motorcycle market, followed by France (146,276 motorcycles, +10%), Germany (140,628 motorcycles, +11.1%), Spain (113,650 motorcycles, +8.0%) and the UK (83,155 motorcycles, +3.7%).
Motorcycle registrations increased in all EU countries, with the exception of Poland, where they went down by -2.3%.
The European moped market reached 209,562 units during the first 9 months of 2018. This represents a decrease of around -26.1% compared to the registration levels of the first nine months of 2017 (283,399 units). The largest markets for mopeds in Europe were: France (51,498 units), Netherlands (47,260 units), Germany (20,133 units), Italy (16,118 units) and Belgium (15,992 units).
‘Italy is largest market’
The moped market saw transition from Euro 3 to Euro 4 engine emissions compliance take effect on January 1st, 2018 - 12 months later than for motorcycles.
Combined registrations of electric mopeds, motorcycles and quadricycles reached 36,270 units during the first nine months of 2018. This represents a substantial increase of +52.8% compared to the registration levels of the same period of 2017 (23,722 units).
Most of the electric L-category vehicles registered in 2018 are mopeds (26,210 units), followed by motorcycles (7,652 units) and a much smaller number of quadricycles (about 2,408 units).
Commenting on the latest figures, Antonio Perlot, Secretary General of ACEM, said: “During the first nine months of 2018, motorcycle registrations increased in 27 out of the 28 EU Member States, with double digit growth figures for the three largest European markets: Italy, France and Germany.
“Although current sales volumes in Europe are still below 2007 levels (when 1.5. million units were sold), the motorcycle sector has accumulated four consecutive years of growth since 2013. If current trends persist, 2018 may become a fifth consecutive year of market growth.
However, there is growing industry thinking that, in fact, the apparently robust growth in new motorcycle registrations is in fact flattening out when the 2016 Euro 3 pre-registered inventory is taken into account.
That inventory was ultimately sold in 2017, but the numbers were mostly recorded in the registration statistics for the final quarter of 2016 - meaning that 2017 registrations were in fact higher than formerly recorded and distorting the year-on-year comparison.
