October’s registrations gain of just 0.8% to a total of 8066 units plated will have attracted almost zero applause throughout the industry. BDN financial editor Roger Willis was one of the throngs who didn’t join MCIA supremo Tony Campbell in his solitary hand-clap.
Motorcycles fell by 4.4% to 5077. Scooters were 12.5% up to 2296. Mopeds added 7.8% to 639. Trikes were 5.3% down to 54. Petrolhead products in total retreated by 0.4% to 7558. However, battery-electric bikes posted their first monthly advance this year, with a 22.4% increase to 508.
Among petrolhead ascendancy, the up-to-125cc mobility and delivery sector was 1.7% down to 3640 but benefited from 657-strong Yamaha NMax 125 scooter input that almost certainly represented fleet purchases. Mixed mobility and entry-level enthusiast products in the 126-500cc range took honours as the second-largest performer, 13% up to 1271. Then 501-750cc machines declined by 9.5% to 656. The increasingly popular 751-1000cc slot put on 14.8% to 1022, appropriately led by Honda’s best-selling CB750 Hornet. Over-1000cc kit sank by 15.4% to 969.
Honda dominated the Top-ten brand rankings as usual, although monthly sales were 5% down to 1463. Honda’s CBF125M and NT1100 respectively topped Naked and Touring style category numbers, while its “all-terrain” ADV 350 scooter ruled the 126-500cc roost. Runner-up Yamaha surged by 45.8% to 1266, mainly thanks to the aforementioned hordes of NMax 125 scooter fleet fodder — which accounted for more than half of the brand’s entire monthly sales. KTM climbed onto the last podium step, 56.3% up 519 bikes sold.
Triumph was the next also-ran in line, 3.2% down at 493. BMW followed, 2.8% in arrears on 410 sales. Some 80 samples of Motorrad’s now-obsolete R1250GS Adventure bargain proposition were best-sellers in the 1000cc-plus sector. Sixth-placed Kawasaki, now armed with plenty of stock, boasted a 13.9% sales increase to 311. Suzuki crept into seventh spot after selling 287 machines, definitely more than it shifted in October last year, when the brand failed to make a top-ten chart appearance.
Royal Enfield’s headcount dropped by 14.9% to 279 in eighth place. And the only accolade it earned was best-selling Modern Classic for the Hunter 350. Lexmoto dived by 22.1% to just 271 sales. Finally, Vmoto’s pioneering Super Soco battery-electric brand has returned, after disappearing for most of this year, with 204 sales putting it on the last rung of our top-ten ladder. Vmoto products were also best-sellers in the up-to-4kW and up-to-11kw electric equivalents of the AM Moped and A1 Restricted 125cc slots.
For the year to date, overall registrations are 1,9% down to 102,037 units. The gasoline-guzzling steeds we love are positive by 0.3% at 98,470. Battery-electric numbers have plunged by 38.3% to 3567. Motorcycles are 2.5% up at 75,047, scooters have fallen by 9.5% to 21,454 and mopeds are 24.7% lower on 4767.