THE BRADLEY REPORT
Germany to July 2020
Germany's apparently relentless march
to market recovery succeeded in July
with the latest data from the IVM, the
motorcycle industry trade association
in Germany, showing new model
registrations at an impressive
+41.25% for the month (17,339
units), and now running at +0.80% for
the YTD (88,216 units).
In the context of 2020, the motorcycle
registration statistics in Germany for
2020 so far have been remarkable.
Having been +37.14% (4,446 units) in
January and -3.98% in February (9,252
units), motorcycle registrations were
-18.70% in March (16,581 units) and
-28.14% (12,064 units) in April, but
started to recover spectacularly in May
(+6.33%/14,524 units) and June
(+21.64%/14,010 units), suggesting
that demand hasn't gone away, with
consumers buying when they judge the
moment is right.
Indeed, in total PTW terms, it looks very
much like the theory that the urban
mobility and isolation messages that
PTWs have in their favour are being
taken up by commuters. Total PTW
registrations in July in Germany were a
massive +54.95% over July 2019 with
150,000
100,000
50,000
29,977 new models registered in total,
putting growth for the YTD at a healthy
+13.19% (140,840 units).
In motorcycle market share terms,
BMW remains 'Top Dog' in its home
market with a modestly reduced
21.86% share YTD (19,287 units sold
and six models in the top 20 best sellers
in Germany YTD), followed by
Kawasaki, Honda, KTM, Yamaha and
Harley-Davidson in sixth place with an
8.14% market share, with 7,179 units
sold YTD.
The top selling model was the BMW R
1250 GS (6,653 units YTD), with
Harley's top seller in Germany being
the Street Bob (900 units sold YTD) in
26th spot, followed by the Sport Glide
(527 sold) and the XL1200 X (523
sold).
Indian Motorcycle is yet to register a
model in the list of the 50 best sellers,
but is gradually gaining market share
in Germany, sitting in 12th place now
with 1,262 units sold (up 46% from
last year).
Last year saw the German motorcycle
market grow by +4.38% to 113,039
units, with PTW sales growing by
+6.53% to 165,311 units.
German Registrations Jan-July
124,426
PTW
+13.19%
140,840
87,512
2019
MOTORCYLCE
2020
+0.80%
88,216
Japanese Exports to USA
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
Japanese Exports Jan-June
87,563
-12.71%
76,430
MOTORCYCLES
TO EUROPE
The most recent available data
from JAMA (the automotive
trade association in Japan, which
includes representation of
motorcycle manufacturers
among its membership) shows
exports from the 'Big Four'
Japanese manufacturers'
factories in Japan to the US
down by -38.55% in June at a
mere 1,645 units.
For the YTD, Japanese made
motorcycle exports to dealers in
USA are down by -39.10% at
18,126 units for the first six
months of 2020. Total Japanese
made PTW exports to USA were
-61.77% in June (3,062 units)
and -39.45% YTD (28,557 units).
In Europe motorcycle imports
from Japan were -49.22% in June
29,762
2019
18,126
2020
-39.10%
MOTORCYCLES
TO USA
(3,713 units) and are -12.71%
YTD (76,430 units), having had a
strong start to the year. Over
65,000 Japanese made
motorcycles went into Europe in
Q1 before the pandemic struck,
which was considerably up on
the year ago quarter and boded
well for European Honda,
Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki
dealers. Annual worldwide
Japanese made motorcycle and
moped exports (all PTW) fell off
a cliff in 2009 to 583,879 from
over 1 million in 2008, having
peaked at 1,641 million units in
2000. They have continued to
decline most years since then;
most recently they were 463,123
units in 2017; 456,758 in 2018,
and 386,379 in 2019.
Italy
The latest new motorcycle
registrations data (for July) available
from ANCMA, the motorcycle
industry trade association in Italy (the
owner of EICMA), continues to make
good reading. July motorcycle
registrations in Italy were +31.14%
with 15,099 new motorcycles
registered, putting the Italian market
at a way better position than
expected with a total of "only"
-15.35% (63,165 units) for the first
seven months of the year.
Italy is an important scooter and
moped market, so total PTW
registrations (of all displacements
and styles) are a telling sign of
underlying market activity and they
were +24.50% for July (36,821
units) and are running at -14.66%
YTD at 143,775 units. Scooters were
80,610 units YTD (-14.12%).
The top selling motorcycles in Italy
YTD have been the BMW R 1250 GS
(Enduro, 2,440 units YTD), followed
by the Benelli TRK 502/502X (2,196
units YTD), Honda Africa Twin (2,147
units), Yamaha Tracer 900 (Tourer,
1,705 units) and the Honda NC 750
X (1,629 units).
For the record, in 2019 the Italian
market was again Europe's largest at
+6.26% in motorcycle registration
terms (98,883 units) and +5.65% in
total PTW terms at 231,937 units.
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
Italian Registrations Jan-July
-14.66%
168,479
143,775
74,616
2019 2020
-15.35%
63,165
TOTAL LPTW
MOTORCYCLE
20 AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - SEPTEMBER 2020