| Registrations by style (inc. hybrids) | ||||||
| Year to Date | ||||||
| MOPEDS | Oct 2024 | Oct 2023 | Â % Change | Oct 2024 | Oct 2023 | % Change |
| Moped Naked | 29 | 70 | -58.6% | 470 | 475 | -1.1% |
| Moped Other | 52 | 92 | -43.5% | 733 | 936 | -21.7% |
| Moped Scooters | 314 | 477 | -34.2% | 3211 | 3357 | -4.3% |
| Total Mopeds | 395 | 639 | -38.2% | 4414 | 4768 | -7.4% |
| MOTORCYCLES | ||||||
| Adventure | 1431 | 1227 | 16.6% | 19695 | 19019 | 3.6% |
| Competition | 560 | 543 | 3.1% | 4676 | 5366 | -12.9% |
| Custom | 494 | 481 | 2.7% | 6403 | 6978 | -8.2% |
| Modern Classic | 142 | 537 | 112.7% | 12188 | 10085 | 20.9% |
| Naked | 1320 | 1558 | -15.3% | 19929 | 22864 | -12.8% |
| Road Sport | 509 | 584 | -12.8% | 8985 | 8199 | 9.6% |
| Scooter | 1847 | 2295 | -19.5% | 19257 | 21451 | -10.2% |
| Touring | 110 | 136 | -19.1% | 1897 | 2362 | -19.7% |
| Unspecified | 11 | 12 | -8.3% | 192 | 177 | 8.5% |
| Total Motorcycles | 7424 | 7373 | 0.7% | 93222 | 96501 | -3.4% |
| TRICYCLES | ||||||
| Other | 18 | 22 | -18.2% | 312 | 338 | -7.7% |
| Scooter | 24 | 32 | -25.0% | 319 | 430 | -25.8% |
| Total Tricycles | 42 | 54 | -22.2% | 631 | 768 | -17.8% |
| Total Registrations | 7861 | 8066 | -2.5% | 98267 | 102037 | -3.7% |
| Registrations by capacity (inc. hybrids) | ||||||
| Year to Date | ||||||
| ENGINE BAND | Oct 2024 | Oct 2023 | % Change | Oct 2024 | Oct 2023 | % Change |
| 0 – 50cc | 296 | 332 | -10.8% | 3057 | 3227 | -5.3% |
| 51 – 125cc | 2978 | 3308 | -10.0% | 30593 | 33138 | -7.7% |
| 126-500cc | 1492 | 1271 | 17.4% | 17926 | 14925 | 20.1% |
| 501 – 750cc | 1019 | 656 | 55.3% | 11836 | 12216 | -3.1% |
| 751 – 1000cc | 947 | 1022 | -7.3% | 16530 | 18089 | -8.6% |
| over 1000cc | 842 | 969 | -13.1% | 15061 | 16876 | -10.8% |
| Total Registrations | 7574 | 7558 | 0.2% | 95003 | 98471 | -3.5% |
| Top ten brands | ||
| 1 | Honda | 1188 |
| 2 | Yamaha | 1011 |
| 3 | Royal Enfield | 874 |
| 4 | Triumph | 488 |
| 5 | BMW | 464 |
| 6 | KTM | 367 |
| 7 | Lexmoto | 340 |
| 8 | Kawasaki | 252 |
| 9 | Suzuki | 227 |
| 10 | Sym | 203 |
REGISTRATIONS MEET AUTUMN GLOOM
With motorcycle and scooter registrations virtually flatlining, just a marginal 0.7% up to 7424 units, and October’s overall monthly numbers 2.5% down at 7861, reasons to be cheerful were very thin on the ground. However, one remarkable ray of sunshine found its way through the dense autumnal cloud base.
Consummately budget brand Royal Enfield confounded the market with an extraordinary surge, registering 874 motorcycles. This tally represented 11.1% of all registrations in third spot, closely chasing behind market leader mighty Honda’s 15.1% and Yamaha’s 12.9% shares. Royal Enfield’s new Scram 411 model and its Continental GT650 twin thereby earned respective best-seller status in the 126-500cc and 501-750cc categories. Some 99 samples of the brand’s Meteor 350 model also claimed the best-selling Custom style accolade.
Then good news pretty much petered out. Petrolhead ICE products stood at 7574 units, an extremely narrow 0.2% increase. At least it dwarfed the battery-electric cul-de-sac, which plunged by 43.5% to a mere 287 units.Â
Up-to-125cc mobility and delivery fleet sector declined by 10.1% to 3274 units. Star turn was a fleet of 450 NMax 125 scooters, comprising 44.5% of entire October registrations for Yamaha. Aided by aforementioned Royal Enfield input, the 126-500cc bargain basement and 501-750cc slots fared better, respectively adding 17.4% and 55.3%. In both cases they posted more than a thousand units.
Bigger bikes followed the congenitally weak performance we have come to expect. The 751-1000cc sector fell by 7.3% to just 947 units, headed up by Triumph’s best-selling Tiger 900 GT Pro. 1000cc-plus premium stuff was worse, 13.1% down to 842. BMW Motorrad’s R1300GS ruled the best-seller roost, 85 of them, distantly pursued by 45 R1250RT tourers.
Needless to say, the MCIA’s best-selling brand chart was mostly grievous. Honda slumped by 18.8%. Yamaha was 20.1% down. And then arch disruptor Royal Enfield elbowed its way in with a sensational 213.3% increase. Triumph followed, with a small increase of 2.3%, its fast-selling 400cc single platform still keeping it just about in the black.
BMW Motorrad put on 13.2% and must be fervently hoping that R1300GS Adventure shipments are on their way to put icing on aspirant customers’ Xmas cakes. KTM retreated by 29.3%, suggesting its urgent inventory destocking may have stumbled over the chocolate camshafts obstacle. Lexmoto was among the cheerful few. Kawasaki wasn’t, dropping by 19%. And neither was Suzuki, 20.9% down. Finally, MotoGB’s SYM brand closed the stable door, replacing last October’s short-lived visit from electric scooter vendor Vmoto.
Total YTD registrations are currently 3.7% in arrears on 98,267 units. The usual flurry of preregistrations for dealer bonus massage purposes should push us back above the 100,000 mark in the last two months of 2024, with a bit of luck.
October sees fifth consecutive month of market contraction
“Continuing the trend seen throughout the year, the motorcycle market experienced another decline in October, with total registrations dropping by -2.5%. The market has faced persistent challenges in 2024, which marks the fifth consecutive month of contraction,” says Symon Cook, head of the National Motorcycle Dealers Association (NMDA), commenting on the latest MCIA figures.
There was a 2.5% decrease in total registrations in October, from 8,066 to 7,861 units. Total motorcycle sales grew slightly by 0.7% from 7,373 to 7,424 units, whilst moped registrations declined by -38.2% to 395 units. Year-to-date figures show a decrease of -3.7% for total registrations.
The various categories of motorcycles exhibited a wide range of performances; ‘Modern Classic’ surged by 112.7% for the month to 1,142 units. ‘Adventure’ also rose by 16.6% to 1,431 units. ‘Scooter’ saw a decrease of -19.5% from 2,295 to 1,847 units.
Electric motorcycles dropped -43.5% from 508 to 287 units. Year-to-date electric figures remain below last year’s corresponding period, down -8.5% from 3,566 to 3,264 units.
Of the different ICE capacities, the 126-500cc category witnessed growth (17.4%), whereas the larger engines decreased, with 751-1000cc contracting by -7.3% and 1000cc+ contracting by -13.1%.
Honda is again the best-selling brand of the month, with 1,188 units sold, followed by Yamaha (1,011) and Royal Enfield (874), whilst SYM rounded out the top ten with 203 models sold.
Symon Cook concluded: “Electric models also appear to be struggling, consistently trailing behind last year’s figures for most of this year.
“Aside from briefly mentioning vehicle excise duty rates, motorcycles were largely overlooked in last week’s Autumn Budget. NMDA will continue collaborating with and urging the Government to address these concerning trends.”