Motorcycle Sales in Europe Show Strong Growth

Motorcycle sales in the United States might be tanking, but things are looking fairly positive across the pond in Europe, as the ACEM reports a 4.7% increase in motorcycle sales for Q1 2018, for a total of 203,853 units sold in the first three months of this year.

The increase in sales is due to key markets like France (+9.1%), Germany (+1.9%), and the UK (+7.4%) showing good growth, compared to Q1 2017.

However, not all the European countries are showing increases in motorcycle sales, with the Czech Republic (-17.3%), Poland (-28.7%), and Austria (-18.9%) pulling the sales growth figure down considerably.

Not all segments are growing too. While the big bikes are seeing sales increases, European sales for mopeds are down considerably for Q1 2018 (40.2%), to the tune of a 24,996 unit sales decline over last year.

Part of that decline is due to the rise in electrics. To that tune, electric motorcycle sales are up 118% (1,726 units sold) and electric moped sales are up 50.8% (5,848 units sold).

The rise in electric moped and motorcycle sales surely doesn’t account for the huge drop in the sup-50cc category, but it is worth noting the transition in that space from gas to electric.

The missing figure from the ACEM report is the meteoric rise of e-bike sales in Europe, which are surely aiding in the declined use gas-powered of mopeds.

It is a fine distinction between an electric moped and an e-bike, though the growing legal divide between the two is helping spur electric bicycle sales for short-distance urban people-moving.

As such, e-bikes account for roughly 30% of the European bicycle market now, which is a pretty astounding figure. The motorcycle industry should be taking note, if they aren’t already.

European Motorcycles for Q1 2018:

Source: ACEM