The latest data from the IVM, the motorcycle industry trade association in Germany, shows motorcycle registrations up by +9.38 percent in January 2019 (3,242 units) and +66.18 percent for February (9,635 units), making the German market +46.96 percent for the first two months of 2019 at 12,877 units registered.
In total PTW terms, January was +4.73 percent (4,363 units) and +65.32 percent in February (12,559 units), making the YTD +43.86 percent at 16,922 units registered.
The top selling model YTD was the BMW R 1250 GS (1,526 units), way ahead of the Honda 'Africa Twin' in second place (355 units), followed by the KTM 1290 Superduke R (237 units), the BMW F 750 GS (222 units) and the KTM 790 Duke (211 units) in fifth place.
With now having eight models among the top 20 best sellers, it is no surprise that BMW has stretched its German market dominance still further, having sold 4,204 motorcycle units in total YTD for a commanding 32.65 percent market share (up by +55.59 percent compared to the first two months of 2018).
Honda was second with 1,601 units sold, for a 12.43 percent market share; KTM was third (1,573 units sold, 12.22 percent share); Harley-Davidson fourth (960 units sold, 7.46 percent share) and Kawasaki fifth (7.11 percent share, 915 units sold). Yamaha, Triumph, Ducati, Husqvarna and Suzuki make up the top ten.
In percentage terms, the biggest market sector in Germany is now the Enduro segment (33.87 percent of all sales/4,362 units) and the fastest growing sectors, in percentage growth terms, are what are termed "classic" models (naked bikes etc), which account for 24.80 percent of sales (3,193 units), then Enduro (accounting for 33.87% of sales at 54% growth), with Supersports third (+23.48 percent of all sales/3,024 units) and the custom market ("chopper") fourth, which is up by +11.07 percent (7.09 percent of all sales/913 units). All segments of the German market are up for the YTD.
Total motorcycle registrations for the full year 2018 in Germany were +7.35 percent (108,296 units), with total PTW registrations +10.98 percent (155,184 units) - however, as with other of Europe's markets, while the unit numbers made good reading, some caution needs to be used when judging the apparent year-on-year 2017/2018 percentage market growth because of the several thousands of pre-registered Euro 3 models registered in late 2016 that were actually sold 'as new' by dealers in early 2017, but not recoded in the figures for that year.
