All major European markets saw increases in motorcycle registrations throughout 2023, with Italy performing best, up 18%. The only exception to the all-year upswing was a slight tail-off in November and December for Germany.
Unfortunately, the moped market was the polar opposite, with all of the major players (Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain) seeing significant losses. Belgium was least-bad, with a 3.8% reduction, while the Netherlands and Germany had the most torrid time, both suffering massive falls of more than 40% in sales.
Electric PTWs also had poor results across the board, with every country and every sector down in comparison to 2022.
ACEM secretary general Antonio Perlot commented: “The European PTW market continued its overall growth in 2023, albeit with a mixed picture. The long-term growth trend for motorcycles is a reflection of consumers’ preferences for commuting and leisure.
Depending on the national market, the drop for mopeds highlights a continued shift to light motorcycles, fluctuations due to rebalancing after strong growth in 2022 or a continued compression due to unfavourable urban mobility and incentives policies”.