The latest data available from the MCIA, the motorcycle industry association in the UK, shows that new motorcycle registrations in the UK were -51.86% in May at 4,965 units (compared to 10,313 in May 2019), having been -83.93% (1,467 units) in April and -22.19% in March (12,484 units) after a promising start to the year (+2.29%/5,709 in January and +3.48%/4,254 units in February).
As is emerging elsewhere in Europe, the May data for the UK suggests somewhat of a market recovery as lockdown easing starts to take effect - though that said, as at the start of June, the UK lags the rest of Europe in terms of its emergence from the COVID-19 emergency.
In YTD motorcycle registration terms, the UK is running at -36.08% (28,881 units) and in total PTW terms the UK was -50.59% in May (5,336 units in total) and is -35.59% YTD (30,612 units in total, compared to 47,524 in 2019).
By way of context - motorcycle registrations in the UK grew slightly in 2019, +0.72% with 100,472 units sold. Many in the UK pointed to consumer confidence being low as a result of Brexit and general economic uncertainty as the reasons why the UK motorcycle market didn't do as well as elsewhere in 2019. Along with Italy, France, Germany and Spain, the UK remains one of Europe's 'Big Five' markets (actually, the 5th largest) who between them account for over 80% of annual new registrations in Europe.
