Bike dealers overtake lockdown 2.0 with strong performance

“November’s motorcycle sales figures confirmed a fantastic year on year performance, during a challenging trading period, with dealers embracing the use of click and collect to meet consumer demand through the second lockdown”, said Paddy O’Connell, Head of the National Motorcycle Dealers Association (NMDA), which represents motorcycle dealers in the UK, commenting on the latest MCIA’s motorcycle sales figures.

Powered Two Wheels (PTW) registrations were only marginally down compared to November 2019, -0.4%, a real figure of just 22 units according to MCIA’s latest registration figures. Year to date, the motorcycle market is just 5.6% down from 2019.

The scooter market remains strong, up 3.0% year to date, despite some dealers reporting a lack of stock availability from manufacturers. In November, sales driven by new riders using motorcycles for first and last mile delivery services were hampered by the fact that Compulsory Basic Training could not be undertaken during the lockdown.

Sales increases in custom (up 49.4% in November), supersport (up 18%) and trail/endure (up 23.2%) indicate that many are still turning to PTWs for their leisure time as travel and expenditure on many other hobbies are severely restricted.

Honda retained the top spot with the gap between themselves and Lexmoto narrowing. The wallet-friendly Keeway superlight was the outstanding winner in November with 176 units registered.

The growth in the electric motorcycles segment of the market does not seem to slow down: up 15.3% compared to November 2019 with an overall 45.7% increase year to date. Continuing to support the transition to electric vehicles, NFDA’s Government-backed Electric Vehicle Approved (EVA) scheme reopened in October. EVA has recently received the first applications from motorcycle dealers, showing motorcycle dealers’ growing expertise in the EV sector.

Paddy O’Connell, Head of NMDA, added: “November’s strong results pay testament to the resilience and flexibility of motorcycle dealers. Our members’ performance shone through and we will continue to work closely with them to offer assistance and support”.