Aussie motorcycle market drops by 7.8 per cent

National motorcycle, scooter and ATV sales for the nine months to the end of September 2017 declined 7.8 per cent compared with the same period in 2016, according to the latest sales data published by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

Industry sales for the nine months totalled 73,141, compared to 79,352 at the same period in 2016. Honda was the overall market leader with 16,646 sales ahead of Yamaha (14,546), Kawasaki (6936), Harley-Davidson (6526), Suzuki (5765), KTM (5605), Polaris (4758), BMW (2098), BRP (1970) and Triumph (1745).

At the halfway mark of 2017, the Australian market was down by just 4.1 per cent.

Only five manufacturers have shown positive year-on-year (YOY) growth in 2017: BRP, Husqvarna, Indian, Polaris and the now-defunct Victory. Husqvarna was particularly impressive with a 33 per cent increase.

The road segment was again the largest, with 29,625 sales or 40.5 per cent of the total motorcycle market. This volume represents a decline of 14.9 per cent YOY.

The ATV segment has grown by 4.5 per cent YOY, while off-road and scooter are down by five and 14 per cent respectively.

Harley-Davidson leads the way in road sales, while Polaris (ATV), Yamaha (off-road) and Piaggio (scooter) hold the No. 1 spots in the other categories.

Individual models
The race is well and truly on for the title of the biggest selling model in Australia this year, with the Harley-Davidson Breakout currently just in front on 1092 units from the Australia Post-ordered Honda NBC110 (1086), Yamaha WR450F (1069) and Honda CRF50F (1065). The top 10 is completed by the Yamaha PW50 (920), Harley-Davidson Street 500 (889), Yamaha TTR50E (851), Honda Grom (848), Honda CRF230F (809) and Honda CRF110F (791).

The biggest selling models in all the categories are as follows: