The National Motorcycle Dealers Association says it was pleasing to see overall registrations of PTWs in August up by 9.1% against the same month last year.
A statement said: “In number terms August registrations are always low due to the volume of customers who will prefer to wait until September to obtain the latest registration plate on their new machine. Therefore, the year to date picture shows a steadier growth of 2% for the first eight months of this year.
“One of the positive movements in August but also across the whole year is the upturn in sales of scooters. This market increased by 28.4% in August and has gradually increased by 4.3% year to date, despite the concerns around theft and crime in the main metropolitan conurbations.
“All power ranges apart from the sub 50cc machines showed growth in August, even the mid-range 651-1000cc machines were up 9.5%. These motorcycles have been in a decline of 9.4% for the year as a whole.
“As normal, Honda led the pack with 1259 registrations followed by Yamaha with 919 new motorcycles going on the road. Triumph was third with 500 machines licensed, Lexmoto followed with 462 bikes sold. Due to low overall volumes being registered, Royal Enfield’s classic Bullet was the top selling motorcycle in the 126-650cc range with 106 units registered in the month
“Although August was a small volume month in relative terms, dealers are feeling optimistic about September and it is starting to feel like at long last the market is positive or at least steady for the remainder of 2018.”