Motorcycle Sales Figures
Australia – Q3 – 2018

Please note that brands such as CF Moto, Gas Gas, Royal Enfield, Beta, MV Agusta & Benelli are not FCAI members and choose not to release sales figures to the FCAI audit.

Overall Summary

National sales data released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries showed the third quarter 2018 year-to-date result at 68,494, compared with 73,058 during the same period in 2017.

The 2018 market remained relatively steady in terms of its composition with road bikes remaining the most popular category and comprising 40 per cent of the market. Off-road bikes took a 34 per cent share, ATV/SSVs accounted for 21.5 per cent of total sales, and scooters recorded a slight increase to 4.5 per cent of the overall market.

Among the individual brands, across the market Honda came in at number one with 16,051 sales (23.4 per cent market share), Yamaha in second place with 14,393 sales (21 per cent share), Kawasaki in third with 6,857 sales (10 per cent share), followed by KTM with 5,792 sales (8.5 per cent share) and Suzuki with 5,278 sales (7.7 per cent share).

Road bike sales nationally reduced by 7.5 per cent on the 2017 result. Honda came in as segment leader, ahead of Harley-Davidson, and with Yamaha in third. Yamaha, Suzuki, Husqvarna, and Indian all saw increased sales to the end of the 3rd quarter in 2018 compared with 2017.

In the off-road bike segment, Yamaha again came in on top, followed by Honda and KTM. Overall, the off-road bike segment suffered a 3.3 per cent fall on its 2017 result with KTM and Honda as the only volume brands to record an increase in sales to the end of the third quarter.

The ATV/SSV segment has suffered the biggest reduction in sales (compared to 2017) with overall numbers being down by 11.2 per cent. Polaris was the overall leader with Honda in second place and Yamaha third. Disappointingly, all brands have suffered a reduction in sales for the year so far.

In the smallest segment (Scooters) which only accounts for 4.5 per cent of total sales, Honda was the leader, followed by Piaggio, and Vespa in third. With most brands seeing an increase in sales in this segment there was a pleasing 11.8 per cent increase in overall sales compared to the same period last year.

Honda #1

Honda retained their overall lead in the Australian motorcycle market to the end of Q3 2018 despite a small 3.6 per cent drop in sales for Big Red across the first nine months of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017.

ATV sales for Honda were down 14 per cent and it was the four-wheelers that is holding the brand back a little on these sales figures. Road bike sales were down a little for Honda but off-road sales were up.

The CMX500 is doing remarkably well for Honda and is up 43.7 per cent this year but it is the CB125E that continues to lead the way for roadbikes with 851 of the budget starter bikes hitting the roads.

Honda topped the farm bike category with their new XR190 while CRF450R sales are also strong.

Yamaha #2

Yamaha consolidated their second place and closed the gap to Honda a little despite a negligible 1.1 per cent drop overall.

It was also the ATV market that held Yamaha back while the tuning fork brand actually picked up a little in road sales. MT-03 is performing well for Yamaha as is the MT09 while the FJR1300 touring machine was up by 56 per cent.

Yamaha’s PW50 is Australia’s biggest selling dirtbike while Yamaha’s YZ450F/YZ250F pairing took 1-2 on the motocross charts.

The WR450F was down 23.7 per cent but that will turn around as soon as the new model arrives later this year but Yamaha remain the #1 brand for off-road motorcycle sales in Australia. Despite that drop in sales for the WR450F, it still missed out on top enduro by a single sale.

Yamaha recorded strong growth in the scooter sector but that was off a very low base.

Kawasaki #3

It was also ATV sales that prevented Kawasaki from recording a positive growth figure. The trend here obviously directly attributed to the severe drought currently affecting the eastern seaboard of Australia.

Predictably their new Ninja 400 is going great guns with 749 sales but that result of course also ate considerably into sales of the Ninja 300.

The handsome new Z900 found 315 new homes while Team Green’s KX450F and KX250F motocross machines did well considering the overall 3.3 per cent downturn in overrall dirtbike volume across all brands.

Despite dominating WorldSBK and offering plenty of bang for the buck the ZX-10R is not finding favour with sportsbike buyers as it is out-sold by the premium performance machines of not only the European brands, but also the other three brands that make up the Japanese big-four.

KTM #4

KTM of course don’t sell any four-wheel machines, or scooters for that matter, and are doing particularly well in off-road sales, but that 6 per cent boost was offset by a 6 per cent drop in road sales but overall KTM are still 3.3 per cent better off than this time last year.

The 1090 Adventure R continues to prove fairly popular, as does the RC390 and 390 Duke but sales of their large 1190/1290 adventure machines seem to be holding KTM back a little in regards to road bike sales. However, KTM are now selling more road bikes than Ducati.

Off-road KTM’s 300 EXC two-stroke topped the enduro category with 817 sales a massive 73.8 per cent improvement on 2017. The 500 EXC is also performing strongly but the smaller enduro models are dragging the chain a little for KTM.

Suzuki #5

Suzuki actually picked up sales in the roadbike market but a hefty 23.6 per cent hit to their off-road sales saw them slip behind KTM in the overall sales rankings.

The perennial budget adventurer that is the DR650 was up 15 per cent while its twin-cylinder brother the DL650 improved its sales numbers by 8 per cent.

Harley-Davidson #6

Harley-Davidson continue to take massive hits to their sales this year. To be fair, this is coming after a period of massive growth and dominance of the roadbike sector in the preceding years. Still, a 20.4 per cent decline has to hurt but in some ways it was always a hit that had to come at some point, despite their efforts to reinvent their platforms and grow their appeal with new riders.

Their learner legal Street 500 still topped the cruiser category, despite itself being down 22 per cent while Harley’s 114 Breakout is doing remarkably well and dominating the large capacity cruiser charts by a considerable margin.

Polaris #7

ATV specialist Polaris were down 12.9 per cent but their Sportsman 570 continues to be Australia’s top selling ATV. Polaris also remain the #1 selling ATV brand in Australia.

BMW #8

BMW primarily trod water as they wait for their delayed new F750/F850 GS line up in overall sales volume but the big banger R 1200 GS Adventure picked up the slack to record significant sales growth, up 38.1 per cent this year and actually out-sold the regular R 1200 GS, which recorded a 22.9 per cent decline in sales. The BMW R 1200 RT is selling well.

BMW topped the proper sportsbike charts with the S 1000 RR despite a 17.7 per cent decline for the model. The new G 310 GS is also playing a fairly strong part in BMW’s sales figures this year.

BRP / Can-Am #9

Bombardier with their Can-Am brand were down 2.6 per cent but remain in the overall top ten.

Husqvarna #10

Husqvarna’s rankings in road bike sales are improving on the back of the launch of their new Svartpilen/Vitpilen offerings but they took a hefty 16.3 per cent hit in their primary off-road section of the market.

Triumph #11

Triumph were down 24 per cent this time last year and this year that decline has been almost halted. The British brand is down 3.8 per cent this year in a road bike market that was 7.5 per cent down as a whole.

The new Tiger 800 is 38.3 per cent up and the new Street Triple R is also up.

Ducati #12

Ducati has suffered a significant 19.3 per cent down turn compared to this time last year. In 2017 Ducati were down over 10 per cent on 2016 figures, and the year before that (2015) they were down 6 per cent and sold 1506 motorcycles. Their total of 1088 so far this year is despite the launch to rave reviews of the Panigale V4 which has actually made a fairly strong debut.

Ducati’s 959 Panigale also sold in good numbers in comparison to the Japanese 1000cc sportsbikes but still Ducati find themselves in negative territory. Thus we must deduce that the losses for Ducati stem from their Scrambler and Multistrada model line-ups.

Piaggio #13

Piaggio sales are down 11.2 per cent despite the overall scooter market actually being up by a similar number. Honda and Suzuki appearing to be eating into the sales of the Italian machines as both have grown their share of the scooter market considerably this year.

Indian #14

Indian’s numbers continue to grow steadily. They are up 18.5 per cent but it must be said that is off the back of a relatively quite low base compared to Harley. Still, that’s a good result, and when the FTR1200 arrives next year I can see Indian broaching the 1000 sales mark at this point in 2019.

Vespa #15

Vespa is in positive territory with sales 2.7 per cent up on this time last year but would hope to have done better as the overall scooter category grew by 11.8 per cent.