Italy - total PTW registrations to September +19.29%
The slowdown in the rate of market growth seen in the first half of this year in Italy has proved to have been temporary - seasonal or weather related perhaps, or maybe due to consumer confidence as the Italian economy appeared to be softening?
Either way, the trend appears to have levelled out, and the good news is that in total new PTW registration terms in July saw 19.47% growth (36,107 units), August saw 15.40% growth (17,093 units) and September saw growth of 23.16% (25,453 units).
The cumulative result has seen new unit registrations in the Italian market grow by 19.29% for the YTD at 270,573 units - the best first nine month for the Italian market since at least before 2011.
In motorcycle terms, the market was +19.66% (11,217 units) in September and was running at +13.48% (123,118 units) for the YTD. That also marks the best performance for the motorcycle sector since the financial crisis recession of 2008-2012.
The Benelli TRK 500/502 X has taken over as the best-selling motorcycle in Italy YTD with 3,883 units sold so far in 2023, displacing the Honda Africa Twin into second place with 3,245 units sold.
Th Honda Italia SH 125/150/350 range remain the best-selling scooters in Italy for the first nine months of the year, but the ongoing popularity of the larger displacement Maxi Scooter and burgeoning ADV-style Scooter sectors is worth note.
Honda's ADV 350 was the 6th best-selling model of all in Italy YTD with 5,475 units sold, and the X-ADV 750 and Forza 350 have been the 8th and 9th best-sellers with 5,109 and 4,538 units sold respectively.
Piaggio has six models in the top 20 best-sellers in Italy, with KYMCO (two - in 4th and 18th places) and Sym (one - in 12th place) pointing to the ongoing and growing strength of Asian manufacturers.
For the record: for the full year, new motorcycle registrations were +6.35% in Italy in 2022 at 126,571 units. Total PTW registrations in Italy for the 2022 full year were essentially flat at +0.09% - but the 270,416 total of new model registrations was the best for the Italian market since before 2011; of those, ANCMA classified 143,845 as scooters (-4.84% compared to the full year 2021).
