June motorcycle sales continue 2017 decline

“Demand for motorcycles continued its downward trend in June – marking 6 consecutive months of decline in the market”, said Stephen Latham, Head of the National Motorcycle Dealers Association (NMDA) which represents motorcycle retailers across the UK.

Registrations in June fell by –14.1 per cent, with the total number of bikes being sold year-to-date down to 56,677 – a huge reduction of almost 10,000 units compared to the same period last year.

Latham continued, “June is typically a high volume month with consumers buying to get out on the road during the summer months. Sales of all bikes up to 650cc were down in June, however, the 51-125cc machines suffered the most significant decline of -34.5 per cent, and -32.7 per cent for the year so far.

“An over-supply of Euro3 bikes could be blamed for flooding the market and to a point this could be true, however more importantly the insecurity brought on by the weak result of the snap-election could be more to blame as consumers hold back on making decisions with weak consumer confidence and worries over current Brexit negotiations.

“In June, Honda registered 2,309 new bikes, Yamaha sold 1,550, followed by Triumph with 1325 machines registered. Of these Triumphs, 20 per cent (272 units), were the new Bonneville Bobber – hence some of these will have been demonstrator models purchased by dealers.”