Europe’s five biggest motorcycle markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) all enjoyed a strong start to 2026 compared to the first quarter of 2025 that was savaged by pre-registered machines left over from the Euro 5+ regulations changes. Total first-quarter sales across the five nations broke the quarter-million barrier at 250,762, an improvement of 21.1%.
Best perfomer was Germany, the country hardest-hit by pre-regs in 2025, with a heady 44.5% increase. Worst was France, although its 10% uplift must still have been welcome news to dealers.
Mopeds had something of a revival, although sales were very much nation-specific, with the French market reducing by 1.3% whereas Italy saw sub-50cc sales soar by more than 30%.
Antonio Perlot, ACEM secretary general, commented: “The first quarter of 2026 confirms the outlook we shared at the end of last year. With the Euro 5+ transition behind us, the European motorcycle market is regaining momentum. Registrations in the five largest markets rose by 21.1%, with all monitored countries reporting growth. This indicates that demand remains solid and that last year’s correction was mainly technical in nature. The moped segment also saw a modest increase of 2.2%, marking the first time in three years that the category reported growth during this period of the year.