November a good month for motorcycle sales

Despite poor weather conditions, a total of 7,644 motorcycles were registered in November 2016 – a significant increase of 6,821 more bikes compared to November 2015. “It is positive to see that the motorcycle market has come back strong in November with sales up 12.1 per cent over the same period last year,” said Stephen Latham, head of the National Motorcycle Dealers Association (NMDA).

Latham continued, “The current year-to-date figure stands at 117,654 bikes on the road, an increase of 7.1 per cent over the 2015 figure of 109,897. Bearing in mind that a total of 114,106 motorcycles were registered overall in 2015, the 2016 year end figure could be a lot higher due to the final run-out of Euro 3 machines, plus low interest rates and high consumer confidence.

“All power cc sectors showed signs of growth with the exception of sub 50cc mopeds. The most significant increase came from the mid-range motorcycles 126-650cc –which were up 25 per cent up on last November.

“As with previous months, Honda led the manufacturer brands with 1,212 sales, followed by Yamaha who registered 814 sales, and KTM in third place with 739 registrations.

“Some dealers say that the current reasonable bike prices before the sterling exchange rate price increase take effect are encouraging customers to buy, whilst others say sales are being driven by more discounts are being offered to ensure little or no Euro3 stock remains in the showroom past the end of the year. Either way there are some very competitive finance/PCP contracts in the showrooms at the moment – not only on the on run-out models, but also on the latest Euro 4 machines being offered by larger, more established manufacturers who re-aligned their model ranges earlier this year.

“Some dealers still have small stocks of Euro3 machines that are not derogated to be sold in 2017, therefore if not sold to customers this month, they will need to be licenced and registered by the dealers. Apart from boosting the registration figures for next month, these bikes will need to be sold as nearly-new self-registered motorcycles in January/February next year. Due to dealers concerns over cash-flow in the quieter trading months and expiring manufactures warranty periods, dealers will want to discount these self-registration bikes away to customers fast, therefore potentially slowing down new motorcycle registrations for the first few months of 2017.”