Australian Market
Calendar Year 2018

Australia’s Motorcycle Market (which includes the ATV/SSV and scooter market), overall fell 8.7 per cent in 2018, with total sales for the full calendar year of 95,080.

That 2018 total is down from the total of 104,111 achieved in 2017. That 2017 total in itself was well down from what had been a pretty strong 2016, a year that saw overall sales of 114,783. That 2016 result was the fifth highest sales result in history, and the strongest year for the industry since 2009.

A drop of almost 20,000 units since 2016 though has been a hefty blow for the industry, and one that in some part, according to many industry insiders, has been affected by the clampdown in lending rules that has taken place throughout Australia in the wake of the Banking Royal Commission. We covered many other reasons that might contribute towards the turndown in this recent well received editorial (Link). 

Overall figures, comprising all sectors, road, off-road, ATV and scooter, put Honda as #1 despite a 5.9 per cent drop for Big Red. Honda were 9 per cent down on road sales, 2 per cent down off-road, 17.3 per cent down in ATV sales but achieved an impressive 48.4 per cent boost in their scooter sales. Overall, Honda have a 23.9 per cent share of the market.

Yamaha enjoy 22.2 per cent of the overall market and almost matched their 2017 results, only 1.1 per cent down compared to that calendar year. Yamaha picked up 2.5 per cent on road, were down a marginal 0.6 per cent off-road. Like Honda, Yamaha took a hefty hit to their ATV sales which were down 11.2 per cent, but benefitted from a strong surge in scooter sales.

Behind those two titans Kawasaki was a distant third with 9,376 sales (9.9% share), followed by Suzuki (7,557 sales and 7.9% market share).  Kawasaki are down 6.1 per cent while Suzuki took a 16.1 per cent hit in sales, primarily due to a 32.9 per cent drop in off-road sales for the Hamamatsu based brand. 

Harley-Davidson (7,019 sales and 7.4% market share) rounded out the top five after suffering a 21.2 per cent drop in sales. 

2018 Motorcycle Sales Figures
Overall figures inclusive of Road, Off-Road, Scooter and ATV

2018 Motorcycle Sales Figures
Road Only

In 2018 the road bike sector comprised 38.2 per cent of overall sales volume while the off-road contingent amounted to 36.6 per cent. Road bike sales were down 9.6 per cent while off-road was down 6.8 per cent.

Honda’s CB125E (1113 sales – up 58.5 per cent) commuter motorcycle is Australia’s top selling road-bike ahead of Kawasaki’s Ninja 400 (1089 sales – new model), Yamaha’s MT07L (1002 sales – down 2.9 per cent) and Harley Davidson’s XG500 Street (944 sales – down 20.1 per cent). Harley-Davidson and Honda tied for top spot in road bike sales with 7019 units each.

Yamaha was next best on 5702 ahead of Kawasaki at 4396 and BMW on 2835.

Suzuki were sixth on road bike sales ahead of Triumph, KTM and Ducati while Indian rounded out the roadbike top ten for brands with an 8.7 up-tick in sales for the American cruiser specialist.

Ducati were down a hefty 23.2 per cent which saw them shuffled behind KTM on road bike sales volume.

2018 Motorcycle Sales Figures
Off-Road Only

Kids bikes dominate the off-road charts with Honda’s CRF50F officially the biggest selling motorcycle in Australia with 2159 lucky kids receiving one in 2018, that number down 8.6 per cent though on the 2361 kids that scored one in 2017.

Yamaha’s PW50 was Australia’s second biggest selling off-roader at 1953 sales (up 5.9 per cent), and its TT-R50E sibling also strong at 1715 sales (down 6.4 per cent). That duo helped Yamaha to cement its position as Australia’s #1 off-road brand ahead of Honda.

KTM’s off-road sales picked up slightly to strengthen their third place position on the back of some stellar performances for their expansive EXC range in the enduro sector. KTM were the only manufacturer not to go backwards in regard to off-road sales.

2018 Motorcycle Sales Figures
ATV Only

The ATV/SSV market took another hefty 13.7 per cent whack to the bottom line but still comprises 20.6 of the overall sales volume.  The Polaris Sporstman 570 the biggest seller despite a 29.6 per cent drop in volume and Polaris remain the biggest selling ATV brand ahead of Honda and Yamaha.

2018 Motorcycle Sales Figures
Scooter Only

While only a slender 4.6 per cent of total sales, scooters, after some hefty downturns in recent years, have bucked that trend and are 12.4 per cent stronger than they were in 2017. Honda’s NSC110 leads the way with 597 sales ahead of Suzuki’s Address.

Honda extended their lead over Vespa as Australia’s most favoured scooter manufacturer.

Source: MCNews.com.au