After July’s minor dose of respite, MCIA statistics for August have revealed a return to registrations decline – certainly associated with the growing sense of economic unease engendered by shambolic Brexiteering. BDN financial editor Roger Willis crunched these disappointing numbers.
Overall figures sank by 7.4% to 6924 units. Motorcycles were 8.1% down at 4874. Scooters fell by 9.8% to 1461. The comparatively trivial numbers of mopeds and tricycles registered were shiny side up, though, respectively rising by 5.1% to 532 and 11.8% to 57.
All key engine bands lost ground with the most damage done to more profitable larger-capacity sales. 651-1000cc machines suffered a 19% dive to 1253. Over-1000cc stuff fell by 14.4% to 985. At least August’s status as a traditionally weak month, combining the holiday-season peak with a tendency to delay purchases until the new plate in September, meant that typically lower volume anyway was reduced by just 557 units altogether. A small mercy?
Among style categories, only two were positive, Adventure Sport with a fairly tame 2.7% rise and Trail/Enduro adding 22%. Naked, the biggest slot, dropped sharply by 14.8%.
Manufacturer performances were all over the place. Suzuki’s agony was unabated, relegated to ninth in the brand chart with a 49.2% collapse. That was just 19 bikes ahead of increasingly frequent top-ten contender Royal Enfield, which plated 200 bikes. Half of these were regular 126-650cc best-selling Interceptor twin models.
Yamaha may have hung onto second but plunged by 21.4%. Its long-awaited Ténéré 700 has finally arrived and led Adventure Sport registrations with a surprising limited number, only 80 bikes, many of which would probably be dealer demonstrators. Anecdotal assertions from across the trade suggested a grievous stock shortfall, leaving some advance customer orders unsatisfied. Other prominent losers were Triumph in fourth and BMW in seventh, respectively in arrears by 12.8% and 16.8%. Harley-Davidson in eighth fell by 17.4%.
Of the four winners, Chinese flag-carrier Lexmoto made the most impressive progress in third, 24.2% up and topping Supersport with its LXR125 budget mini-missile. KTM did well in fifth too, thanks to a solid 11.3% improvement. Kawasaki took sixth, rising by a modest 2.3%. As usual, Honda towered over the lot on sheer volume, boasting a 7.7% hike and registering not that far short of twice as many bikes as runner-up Yamaha.
For the eight months of 2019 to date, total registrations were a narrow 2.1% higher at 76,305. Motorcycles stayed positive by an even narrower 0.6% on 58,133. Scooters were 4% up to 13,644. Mopeds have now recovered by 17.3% to 40018 and tricycles rose by 8.5% to 510.