Aussie motorcycle market slumps in 2017

Sales of motorcycles, ATVs and scooters contracted 9.3 per cent in Australia last year, with a total of 104,111 sales compared to 114.700 in 2016.

Every market segment contracted, with the smallest damage in the ATV class (down 0.7 per cent), followed by off-road (-5.9 per cent), scooter (-13.2 per cent) and road (-15.9 per cent).

Road was the biggest overall segment in 2017 with 40,196 sales ahead of off-road (37,379), ATV (22,684) and scooter (3852).

At the manufacturer level, Honda came in at number one overall with 24,166 sales, followed by Yamaha (21,387), Kawasaski (9986), Suzuki (9012), Harley-Davidson (8903), KTM (7590), Polaris (6583), BMW (3029), Husqvarna (2647) and BRP (2416).

Husqvarna, Victory, Indian and KTM all saw increased sales in 2017 compared with 2016.

Harley-Davidson was the leading road bike brand in 2017, Polaris was the pacesetter in off-road, Yamaha was No. 1 in off-road, and Piaggio continued its dominance in scooter.

Brands such as Gas Gas, Royal Enfied, Benelli, MV Agusta, CFMoto, SWM, Sherco and Kymco are not included in the official figures, as they are not members of the Federal Chamber of Automotove Industries.

Fun bikes lead the way
The top five selling bikes in Australia last year were of alll of the ‘fun’ persuasian, with the Honda CRF50F leading the way on 2361 sales aheead of the Yamaha PW50 (1845), Yamaha TTR50E (1833), Honda CRF110F (1494) and Kawasaki KLX110 (1457).

Then followed Honda’s Australia Post-selling NBC110 (1447), the Yamaha WR450F (1335), Harley-Davidason Street 500 (1182), Honda CRF230F (1173) and Harley-Davidson Breakout (1150).

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