Industry commentators in Italy actually breathed a measured sigh of relief when that country’s trade association ANCMA issued powered two-wheeler sales data for April — purely because of an attenuated rate of decline from the calamity of a 50 per cent plunge in the previous month.
The figures were still pretty grim, however. Registered machines over 50cc were down by 16.1 per cent, with scooters dropping by 20.4 per cent to 11,654 units and motorcycles by 7.5 per cent to 6778 units. The moped sector fell by 26.4 per cent to 2988 units.
In the four months of 2013 to date, the total Italian PTW market has now shrunk by 31.3 per cent to 59,655 units.