Feb. 11, 2008 – Canada sales flat vs. 2006

While U.S. powersports retail unit sales decreased in 2007, the same can’t be said for elsewhere in North America.
Canada’s new motorcycle and ATV remained fairly flat in the past year, according to data from the country’s Motor Cycle Industry Association.
New motorcycle sales totaled 82,482 in 2007, less than a 1 percent increase from the previous year. However, cycle sales have risen by nearly 14 percent compared to five years ago.
For quads, Canada’s year-end sales totaled 88,457, a less than 1 percent decline from the previous year. ATV?sales there, however, have fallen 4.6 percent from five years ago.
Provinces in Canada that saw increased motorcycle sales in 2007 compared to the previous year included Alberta and Newfoundland.
Alberta, however, had fewer ATV sales in 2007 while Quebec increased its number by nearly 7 percent.

United Kingdom

The number of new motorcycles that were registered in 2007 increased by nearly 10 percent, according to the Motor Cycle Industry Association.
The number of new motorcycle registrations totaled more than 120,000, which rose 9.6 percent compared to a year ago.
Fueling the increase was a considerable jump in the adventure sport category, which was close to 32 percent more than 2006. Scooter (16 percent), naked (13.4 percent) and touring (11 percent) also saw healthy gains.
Yamaha did well, having three of the top five motorcycle models in terms of market share, according to the Motor Cycle Industry Association. The Yamaha YBR 125 was tops in the naked segment, with more than twice the number of registrations compared to its nearest competitor.
Other top models by segment included: the Suzuki SV 650 in the sport/tour segment; the Suzuki GSX-R 1000 in the supersport segment; the BMW R 1200 RT in touring; and the Honda SCV 100 in scooters.

Italy

The industry’s motorcycle association says new motorcycle and scooter registrations declined slightly more than 2 percent in 2007 compared to the previous year. Overall registrations totaled more than 435,000, according to the Italian association ANCMA.
Registrations for Italian-manufactured motorcycles and scooters declined by approximately 7 percent. Imports, however, declined 1.4 percent for motorcycles but increased more than 8 percent for scooters. In fact, three Honda scooters (the SH 150, SH 300 and the SH 125) were the country’s top three registered vehicles in 2007. Yamaha’s X Max 250 and T Max 500 scooters were the fourth and fifth highest in terms of 2007 registrations.
One interesting trend: The number of motorcycles or scooters registered that had engines of 251cc-500cc increased more than 20 percent from a year ago.

Brazil

The country’s motorcycle industry expects to continue its trend of manufacturing more motorcycles each year, although fewer are expected to be exported in 2008.
Those are estimates from the Brazilian association of motorcycle and moped manufacturers.
The country manufactured 1.7 million motorcycles in 2007 and is expecting to increase that to 1.9 million this year. The number of exports is expected to decrease by approximately 13.5 percent.
Honda dominates the market, selling nearly 80 percent of the motorcycles sold in 2007, according to the Brazilian association. Yamaha sold about 14 percent of the new motorcycles in 2007. Harley-Davidson made up 0.1 percent of the market.

Australia

Motorcycle sales in Australia jumped 9 percent last year, breaking a sales record set the previous year, Australia’s Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries reported Jan. 18.
During 2007, dealers sold more than 129,000 bikes in the country. It is the 10th year in a row sales have grown in Australia.
“Motorcycle sales are being driven by many of the same factors that pushed car sales to record levels last year, including the strength of domestic demand, income growth and improving vehicle affordability,” said Andrew McKellar, chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
“It is likely that motorcycle sales are also being driven up by rising fuel prices, which have prompted a whole new generation of commuters to learn to ride,” McKellar said. Under 250cc sales increased 25.8 percent in 2007.
Scooters sales leveled out in 2007 to 14,271 units (down 1 percent) after tripling in volume during the previous three years.
The leading road bike segment in 2007 was cruisers with 13,196 units sold, a 27.2 percent increase.psb