Registrations across Europe’s five biggest markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) just about maintained parity with 2023, overall rising by 1.3% to 885,500 units over the first nine months of the year.
Best performing nation was Spain, which has seen some market resurgence since the end of the summer, although the recent flooding there may put a dent in quarter four figures.
Italy managed to keep numbers positive despite a slowing of the market in August and September, while France and Germany both continued a slow but steady decline. Bottom of the pile was the UK, with ACEM reckoning our motorcycle market was down by 4% for the year to date, not helped by a near 15% fall in September.
The moped sector across the biggest markets (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain) continued its decline, with the overall total down by 14.3%. All the major moped markets suffered: France, Germany, Netherlands and Spain were all down by more than 15% while Belgium and Italy were relatively buoyant, only dropping by 8.6% and 4.2% respectively.
Electric motorcycles and mopeds fared poorly across all markets, with e-motorcycles down by 25% overall for the year-to-date. The only market not to suffer double-digit percentage reductions in sales was France, which managed to gain 2%. Worst hit was Germany, where sales dived by more than 45% compared to the first nine months of 2023.