2016 Australian Motorcycles Sales Figures
Fifth highest annual Australian motorcycles sales figures in history – Scooter sales go backwards again
A surge in consumer activity during the final quarter of 2016 generated a strong finish to the sales year for Australia’s new motorcycle market, with the calendar year result up 6.6 per cent on 2015.
Australia’s motorcycle, ATV and scooter sales reached a total of 114,783 in 2016. That figures amounted to an increase of 7,073 units over 2015, and is underlined as the fifth highest sales result in the industry’s history. It was also the industry’s strongest sales result since 2009.
Honda was the largest selling brand again, holding 22.9 per cent (26,276 units) of the total motorcycle, ATV and scooter market. Honda’s NBC110, as used by Australia Post, was Australia’s #1 selling motorcycle over Honda’s CRF50F.
Close behind in second place was Yamaha with 21.7 per cent of the total market (24,899). Yamaha’s top selling machines were the PW50 and TT-R50E while the WR450F continued its fantastic year at the top of the enduro charts.
Kawasaki was third with 9.2 per cent (10,592 sales). The KLX110 was the star performer for Team Green.
Harley-Davidson was fourth with 9 per cent (10,282 sales). The Street 500 continues to sell amazingly well, and Honda’s NBC110 aside, was Australia’s top selling road registered motorcycle available to the general public. On road motorcycles only, Harley continue to be the biggest selling road bike brand in Australia, with 10,282 sales to Honda’s 9651 road sales.
Suzuki were fifth overall on combined road, off-road, scooter and ATV sales, with 8.6 per cent of the total market. (9,924 sales). Suzuki’s DR650 and DR-Z400E continued their positions as the sales stalwarts for the Hammamatsu based brand.
Husqvarna was the biggest improver in 2016, the once Swedish, but now Austrian built, and KTM owned brand, up 39 per cent over 2015 to move into the overall top ten selling motorcycle brands for sales year 2016.
Hyosung’s fall from grace continued in 2016 with the once strong performing brand now a shadow of its former self. 2015 was a bad year for the brand and the trend continued in 2016 with Hyosung going further backwards to the tune of 62.8 per cent. Norton’s entry back into the market saw the reborn British brand’s original 50 orders in 2015, shrink to only 35 in 2016, a decline of 30 per cent. VMoto, Victory, Aprilia, and Moto Guzzi also saw their figures shrink quite markedly. Indian, Ducati, Vespa and Kawasaki were also brands to report sales declines in 2016.
Road bike sales were again healthy across the industry, increasing 5.3 per cent over the 2015 result and accounting for 41.6 per cent of the total market. Australians rode home with a total of 47,753 new road bikes in 2016.
Harley-Davidson took out the top sales position in the road bike category. The Milwaukee (USA) based manufacturer sold 10,282 new road bikes across Australia in 2016 to claim a leading segment share of 21.5 per cent.
Honda was the second highest selling brand in this category, with 20.2 per cent of national road bike sales (9,651). Honda was followed by Yamaha with 16.3 per cent (7,768 sales), Kawasaki with 10.1 per cent (4,798) and BMW with 6.7 per cent (3,178).
Off-road motorcycle purchases accounted for almost 35 per cent of total market with 39,710 sales. The popularity of this segment grew at a slightly higher rate than that of road bikes in 2016, with the 39,710 off-road sales for 2016 representing a 6.3 per cent increase on 2015 figures.
Yamaha again led the market for off-road motorcycles, selling 30.5 per cent (12,090) of the total number sold in this segment. Yamaha was followed by Honda with 24.8 per cent (9,848 sales), KTM with 17.7 per cent (7,023), Kawasaki with 11.0 per cent (4,382) and Suzuki with 10.3 per cent (4,081).
The ATV market grew by a solid 14.4 per cent over 2015, with a total of 22,834 ATVs sold nationally in 2016. ATV sales represented 19.9 per cent of the total motorcycle market.
Polaris was the leading ATV brand with a 26.4 per cent share, or 6,037 sales. Honda was second with 25.5 per cent (5,832 sales), Yamaha was third with 20.5 per cent (4,692), BRP fourth with 11.1 per cent (2,524) and Suzuki fifth with 10.2 per cent (2,337).
Scooters continued their decline in popularity with total sales in this segment of 4,486, down 11.0 per cent on 2015. Italian-based manufacturer Piaggio remained the segment leader market with a 24.0 per cent share (1,075 sales), followed by Vespa in second place with 21.8 per cent (977 sales), Honda was third in the scooter ranks, with 21.1 per cent (945 sales), Suzuki fourth with 8.5 per cent (382 sales) and Aprilia fifth with 8.3 per cent (373 sales). Scooter sales accounted for 3.9 per cent of the total 2016 motorcycle market.
