ACEM training initiatives protect consumers and promote industry growth
This edition sees a return of our regular motorcycle registration statistical round-up, after taking some months off because of the Q4, 2024 end-of-year Euro 5/Euro 5+ 'pre-reg' distortion of the figures.
That made any meaningful interpretation of the available national motorcycle industry trade associations data in the 'Big Five' markets - Italy, Germany, France, Spain and UK - essentially meaningless. It corrupted the data set for 2024, and the data harvested for Q1 of 2025.
Even now, with data published in this edition to May 2025 for UK and Germany, and to June 2025 for Spain and Italy, the 'pre-reg' of unsold units at the end of 2024 still casts a long shadow. Not only is it very difficult to be able to attribute any market insight to the data we do have, but it means we are going to be virtually blind and go deep into the second half of this year before there can be any meaningful analysis of how the market has performed in 2025.
We have data from four of the 'Big Five' markets - data for France is not widely accessible to the media or industry outside of France so we have to wait for the ACEM quarterly research. This Q1 data was released on May 7.
That ACEM data only confirms that the impact of the late 2024 regulation busting OE 'pre-regs' does extend to France too with the market down by -21.6% for Q1 at 38,170 units.
For the record, that data also shows the 'Big Five' for the first three months of the year to date as down by -19% at 206,874 units. While it doesn't take account of the 20% or so of sales that occur outside the main markets, the 48,422 unit loss vs. Q1 2024 is the nearest any of the available data sets comes to an insight into the effect of the OE 'pre-regs' but even that does not give us an opportunity to understand what the underlying Q1 market growth or decline trend had been.
"a safety culture benefitting all road users"
Of those four National trade association market data sets we do have, the one market that is showing growth for H1 is Spain. In data capture terms it appears to have been able to keep its data stream clear of the 'pre-reg' phenomena, or maybe it just wasn't as prevalent there as elsewhere.
At +6.58% (112,880 units) the Spanish market has been strong. For the other markets we have similar data for, the picture is nothing like as good. In the UK, new registrations were -20.21% (a mere 37,267 units) through to May 2025. In the Italian market the data through to June 2025 shows new registrations down by -15.03% at 81,933 units. In Germany the 'pre-reg' problem was at its worst there a -30.90% decline for the first five months (47,149 units sold).
Based on what has been seen before, in data terms the 'pre-reg' issue will not unwind until the end of 2025. In fact, the comparables will still be distorted well into 2026 or even early 2027, as registration statistics continue to lap distorted historical data.
Meanwhile, ACEM continues to work on the long-term health of 'the sport' and the public's willingness to engage with life on two wheels. The manufacturers continue to focus on motorcycle tech and rider aids such as semi and fully automatic clutches, the ride modes and ABS/CBT/LBT developments that have now become largely taken for granted, interconnectivity, ECU capabilities, collision avoidance and all the other forward-facing technologies that are changing the riding and ownership experiences out of all recognition.
Ever since the early twentieth century, every generation has seen the motorcycle industry left in a changed place after their riding lives. Each has seen the change and evolution that is central to protecting the place for motorcycles in the transport mix and for allowing the motorcycle industry itself to develop and grow.
In this edition we have two items about the efforts the industry is making to improve the standards of training. While manufacturers are making it ever easier for new consumers to feel less intimidated and more confident about 'throwing a leg', ACEM is acting as a vital catalyst for such efforts. The eco system of academic, EU and research organisations whose work it is able to galvanize, monitor, harness, coordinate and champion is to be congratulated for its ongoing efforts to make sure that motorcycle riding not only survives in the ever increasingly complex riding environment, but, simultaneously, makes it easier for new generations of consumers to feel safe while embracing the environment, economic and traffic busting advantages that motorcycles represent.
This isn't necessary about electrification, as such, compulsory or otherwise, but about simply keeping our customers safe - improving the market entry pathway for the current and future new consumer group demographics. By embracing evolving generational social attitudes, we better consolidate the motorcycle markets long-term place in the transport mix.
Access to high quality training is fundamental, foundational even, to attracting consumers to the market, turning them into enthusiastic advocates and thereby 'passing the torch'.
Our Cover Story this month is focussed on the new 'Learn-Ride-Enjoy-Repeat' initiative that represents a much-improved and comprehensively well thought out next stage, next generation voluntary training framework for European riders - "a safety culture benefitting all road users."
In collaboration with the FIM, it is a European-wide campaign designed to encourage novice and experienced riders alike to take high-quality voluntary motorcycle training beyond the simplistic requirements of license testing.
It puts the common interests of manufacturers, dealers and consumers at the forefront of shaping a motorcycle market and, importantly, transport landscape that is rider-centric and future-proofed against flawed training solutions that fail to leverage the daily, 'real-world' experiences of the user group concerned.
Along with its closely related 'Safe ride to the future 3.0' (see additional item on page 15) these initiatives help to protect industry interests by protecting consumer interests. Training is the umbilical cord that feeds unit sales growth.
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