International Dealer News IDN 147 February/March 2019

COMMENT: Has the market peaked again? ............................................................................................. Page 4
Omnia Racing adds DNA Filters ...................................................................................................................................................................... Page 11
Newfren - one of Europe's largest clutch manufacturers ........................................................................................................ Page 12
KTM posts another record year as Europe's largest motorcycle manufacturer ............................................. Page 16
ACEM registration statistics put 2018
EU motorcycles at 1,004,063 units for
+9.89 growth over 2017 - in theory!
he Brussels based
international motorcycle
industry trade association
ACEM (Association des
Constructeurs Européens de
Motocycles) has released new
Powered Two-Wheeler and
Quadricycle registration data for
European Union markets in 2018
that puts total internal
combustion engine (ICE)
motorcycle sales at 1,004,063
units - an increase of 9.89% /
90,340 units over 2017.
Italy is reported as the largest market
in 2018, with 219,694 new
motorcycle
registrations
(+7.39%/15,115 units), with France
second at 177,460 new motorcycles
(+9.00%/14,652 units), and the
largest growth in volume terms being
seen in Spain, where new motorcycle
registrations were +17.45%
(+23,766 units) at 159,946 new
motorcycles for the year.
Germany, the fourth largest EU
market, reported 156,108 new
registrations (+10.98%/15,441
units) and the UK fifth at 100,439
T
new registrations (+2.79%/2,726
units). Europe’s ‘Big Five’ markets
represented 81% of the European
total at 813,647 new motorcycle
registrations for the year.
Because the period covers the years
where official registration statistics
were distorted by the crossover pre-
registration and subsequent sale of
Euro 3 inventory, before the Euro 4
‘or was it
+3.12%?’
regulations took effect at the start of
2017, the five years since the market
bottomed out at 748,529 units in
2013 show a reliable +34.14%
growth measure (255,534 new
registrations).
However, the effects of the Euro
3/Euro 4 crossover mean that the
registration statistics for the final
quarter of 2016 were artificially high
and artificially low for the first half of
2017 as pre-registered inventory
continued to be sold by dealers as
“Pre-Owned” units that don’t appear
in the Q1 and Q2 2017 registration
figures when the retail sale was
actually made (see Comment on
page 4).
Adjusted for those quarters, the trend
data for 2018 over 2017 looks very
different. IDN has estimated that
between 50,000 and 65,000 of the
sales made in 2017 really appeared in
the 2016 registration statistics,
making a true picture for 2017 look
very different.
In all probability, the 13.27% growth
rate recorded for 2016 was overstated
by between 50,000 and 65,000
machines and that a better 2016
market estimate would be in the
region of 949,678 units sold (rather
than the 1m or more seen in the 2016
statistics) for a ‘real’ growth rate of
around +6.5%.
The knock-on effect means that the
2017 figure on which last year’s
apparent growth of nearly 10% is
based was understated with an
Continues on page 6 >>>
FEB/MAR ’19
ISSUE #147
STATZONE 6-9
64-page
edition
EICMA SHOW
REVIEW
PART II
THOR 50TH
ANNIVERSARY
news RooM 6-19, 64
tRadeZone 61
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indeX 62