Italy motorcycle registrations to June -15.03%
However, as is the case in most other European markets (especially Germany), the data remains hopelessly distorted by the Q4, 2024 rush by the primary OEMs to pre-register unsold Euro 5 spec models before the upgraded Euro 5+ regulations can into force on 1st January this year.
The result? In statistical terms a confused and confusing picture. However, the underlying data for Italy doesn’t appear as bad as elsewhere (looking at you again Germany).
In each of the last four first half periods in Italy, the market grew well - by +55.05% in 2021 (74,593 units - Covid bounce), by +6.02% in 2022 (79,086 units - still bouncing), +13.14% in 2023 (89,478 units - even more bounce) and by +7.77% in 2024 (96,429 units - an eternal bounce!).
In that context, it looks likely that at least half of the 37,000 registrations seen in Q4, 2024 were ‘legitimate sales’ and that would mean that the worst scenario the Italian market is carrying into H2 is something like a 5,000 to 8,000 pre-reg carry-over - which would make something in the region of a +3% to +5% year end growth rate for 2025 perfectly tenable.
Underlying market growth may be evidenced in the total PTW registration figures for H1 where an apparent decline -4.37% (194, 984 units) is already only some 9,000 behind H1 of 2024.
As usual, the top selling units in Italy are scooters, with Honda’s SH 125, 350 and 150 series take the podium spots (nearly 25,000 units between them) followed by their X-ADV 750, the Piaggio Liberty 125 ABS, Kymco People S 125, Honda Italia’s ADV 350 and two Yamahas - the TMAX and the XMAX350.
The top-selling motorcycle in the first six months in Italy was (no surprise) the BMW R 1300 GS (2,506 units YTD), followed by the Honda Africa Twin (1,967 units). Be it small or large displacement, if you’d driven in Italian traffic, you’d love Enduro platforms too!
Total Scooter sales were 113,051 units, which was up by 5.20%.
