There is a concerted effort in the motorcycles industry to spin the sales nightmare that is 2020.
A great example of this is today’s press release from BMW Motorrad, which disclosed that the German brand is down 17.7% in unit sales for the first six months of 2020.
It is hard to catch that fact though, as the brand waxes poetic about its great fortunes last month.
Take the following opening line from their press release, for instance: “With the best ever sales result for the month of June, BMW Motorrad concludes the first half of 2020 and enters the second half of the year with confidence.”
Indeed, sales have been good for BMW Motorrad (and the rest of the motorcycle industry) for the month of June, with the German brand selling 20,021 motorcycles worldwide – a 12% bump over last year’s figure, and a 9.8% increase over sales in May.
Of course, that is to be expected. With motorcycle enthusiasts essentially unable to buy motorcycles in March and April, some of those would-be sales were certain to spill over into the following months, once stay-at-home orders were lifted.
So, there is some cause for celebration…but that trend is sure to peter out as well, and as we see as we dive deeper into the numbers, BMW Motorrad (and presumably many other brands) are still way off their marks for the year.
Without the coronavirus to blame, a sales decline of nearly 18% (76,707 motorcycles sold worldwide) for the first-half of the year would be cause not only for alarms, but it would warrant giant flashing lights of despair, and a klaxon of noise that induced a bone-ringing cacophony of doom.
Will the sales momentum continue forward for the rest of the year, and yield positive results by December? That is hard to say.
Certainly, the double-digit boom we have seen last month from BMW isn’t something that is sustainable in the motorcycle industry, and thus cannot be relied upon for future reports.
Could the bump extend into July though? That is very possible. Where the bump will end though is perhaps the billion-dollar question.
Right now, the hope from the BMW Motorrad and the motorcycle industry at large, is to focus on the positive, and hope that the forced smiles will mean more customers on the dealership floors.
Source: BMW Motorrad
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