Aussie motorcycle market dips in April

After clawing back some lost ground in February and March, the Australian motorcycle market has been - perhaps inevitably -- spooked in April, with sales now down 18.5 percent year to date (YTD) compared to the same period in 2008.

At the end of March, YTD was only 15.5 percent in arrears of last year.

In raw numbers, 8785 ATV, off-road, road and scooters were sold in April to take this year's tally to 35,026, compared to 43,000 in 2008.

According to official industry figures prepared for the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, only the scooter segment of the motorcycle market rallied in April, slightly improving its position from 31.1 percent down on 2008 to 29.2.

The ATV, off-road and road sectors all lost ground, although none of them have taken such a massive hit as scooters in the overall scheme of things.

Of the major players, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Harley-Davidson, BMW and Hyosung all dipped in April, although Kawasaki and BMW are still ahead YTD.

Yamaha and Triumph bucked the trend and upped their sales in April, although the former is still down 22.1 percent on 2008. Triumph is up 2.9 percent - one of 13 brands to have sold more units in 2009.

However, a number of those brands are coming from a very low base (eg Benelli, Husaberg, Moto Guzzi and Puzey), or simply weren't trading at this time last year (eg Victory).

Although Honda is down 36.1 percent YTD, the biggest hit of the Japanese brigade, it was also one of only a handful of brands which improved its market share in April.

Honda now has 19.09 percent of the motorcycle market, just behind Yamaha (20.18 percent), which also recorded a rise in April.

Suzuki (14.23 percent) is third in market share, from Kawasaki (10.10), Harley-Davidson (7.21), KTM (4.97), Triumph (3.55), Piaggio (2.66), Polaris (2.50), SYM (2.18), Hyosung (2.05), Ducati (1.69) and BMW (1.53).

Kawasaki's Ninja 250 remains the biggest selling bike in Australia on 722 units YTD, ahead of the Honda CT110 (649), Suzuki's venerable DR-Z400E (460) and two Yamahas: the WR450F (421) and PW50 (407).

The leaders in the respective categories are:

ATV - Polaris Hawkeye
Roadbikes - Kawasaki Ninja 250
Cruisers - Harley-Davidson FXD
Scooters - Honda SCV100
Sportstouring - Suzuki GS500F
250cc roadbike - Kawasaki Ninja 250
Adventure touring - Kawasaki KL650E
Nakedbike - Triumph Street Triple
Supersport - Yamaha YZF-R1
Touring - Harley-Davidson FLSTC
Supermoto - Suzuki DR-Z400SM
Off-road - Suzuki DR-Z400E
Enduro - Suzuki DR-Z400E
Motocross - Honda CRF450R
Fun - Yamaha PW50
Farm - Suzuki DR200SE
Trail - Honda CRF230F

Photo: Suzuki's DR-400SM