News Briefs

Indian Motorcycle has recalled certain 2019 Indian Scout/Sixty motorcycles equipped with anti-lock brake systems for a brake system air bleed problem due to possible trapped air.

The Malaysia Bike Building Championship, which in 2017 produced the bike and builder that would go on to take 2nd place at the 2018 AMD World Championship at INTERMOT Customized, Cologne, Germany, will again be an AMD Affiliate when it is staged in Kuala Lumpur on October 25 - 27.  Produced by MotoNation, buoyed by its success so far, after this year the event will be annual.

Motorcycle sales in Germany are +8.25% for the first six months of the year in Germany, with 105,080 total PTW vehicles registered, of which 75,237 units were motorcycles (+5.17%). The best seller in Germany has been the BMW R1250 GS.

Harley took 8.68% of the German motorcycle market in the first sixth months of 2019 (6,533 units - slightly down on the first half of 2018). They placed sixth in market share terms behind BMW, Kawasaki, Honda, KTM and Yamaha, but ahead of Suzuki, Triumph and Husqvarna. Their top seller was the Street Bob (the 21st most popular motorcycle in Germany so far in 2019 - 716 units sold), followed by the Sport Glide (607 units sold), the Breakout 114 (478) and the XL 1200 X (472).

Indian Motorcycle was in 14th place in market share terms in Germany for the first six months of 2019, having sold 658 machines for a 0.87% share.

H-D sold 500 motorcycles in the UK in May and 464 units in June. However, the star of the UK registration statistics was the new Royal Enfield 650 Interceptor, topping the all-important largest 'Naked' style bike sector in its first real month of availability in May, then leading the 236-650 cc sector in June. 

KTM Industries AG announced unit sales in the 1st half 2019 up +7% compared to the previous year. In the first half of 2019, KTM sold approximately 136,000 vehicles worldwide under the KTM and Husqvarna Motorcycles brands. The increase is said to be due to the ongoing growth of the European motorcycle market (total industry sales are more than +10% for the first six months of 2019 in Europe) and strong sales growth in India (+30%).

MPN reports MIC data that puts the number of dual-sport motorcycles sold in Q2 2019 in USA (ADV/Adventure Touring models) at about 11% of the market for two-wheelers. Overall in 2018, the MIC said that of the 12.2 million motorcycles in use, 5% were dual-sport bikes and that of the nearly 30 million people reported as riding a motorcycle in 2018, nearly 10m of them ride both on-road and off-road.

 

Royal Enfield was in 12th place with a 1.17% share of the German market (880 units sold in total) for the first six months of 2019.

Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, B&B, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MNW