2013 motorcycle sales remain steady

The latest Australian motorcycle sales figures are in, and for the first three months of 2013 the market was down ever so slightly, by 0.3 per cent.

Figures based on new vehicle registration numbers released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) showed that 25,848 new motorcycles, scooters and ATVs were sold in the Australia in the first quarter of 2013, which is 71 fewer vehicles sold (0.3 per cent less) than for the same time last year.

Big gains were made by the two traditional road and off-road motorcycle markets, which were up by 7.6 and 7.3 per cent respectively. That equates to a total of 10,840 road bike sales and 8074 off-road bike sales.

The most popular road bike brand for the first quarter of 2013 was Kawasaki, which sold 2156 units (a whopping 87% increase) followed by Harley-Davidson (2048 units) and then Honda (1868 units). Yamaha and Victory also saw small percentage gains in the road-bike segment.

The off-road segment leader was Honda (2018 units) followed by Yamaha (1921 units).

While the traditional motorcycle segments kept sales on the boil, a sharp 18.7 per cent drop in ATV sales in the first quarter of 2013 comes off the back of a promising 5.4 per cent increase overall in ATV sales during 2012.

Total ATV sales were 4343 for the quarter, with Honda leading the pack, followed by Polaris then Yamaha.

The scooter market also dragged down the motorcycle industry figures, with 2586 sales compared to 2953 for the same period last year. Piaggio was the leading scooter brand in Australia with 452 sales, followed by Honda (282 units) and Kymco (252).

Based on pure numbers, the big four Japanese brands remained Australia's most popular marques for the first quarter of 2013: Honda (5395 units) was trailed by Yamaha (3746 units), Kawasaki (3228 units) and Suzuki (2969 units).