Germany: Motorcycles -7.76% to September
While most of Europe's 'Big Five' major markets (Italy, France, UK and Spain) showed motorcycle and PTW registration growth in 2021, Germany was the primary exception at -11.90% for motorcycles and -9.71% for total PTWs.
The current year started strongly in Germany, with some good results, but a downward trend has set in, with registrations at -27.39% (11,198 units) in June, -21.95% (10,394 units) in July, -7.96% (9,817 units) for August and now -14.93% (7,369 units) for September.
For the first nine months of 2022, motorcycle registrations were -7.76% at 95,950 units - the worst since 2017.
In total PTW terms, the German market is essentially flat, with new registrations for the first nine months of 2022 running at -0.47% (174,586 units).
The top selling motorcycle in Germany YTD was the BMW R 1250 GS with 7,518 units sold, for a 7.84% share of the total market - remarkable for a single model - and way ahead of the Kawasaki Z900 in second (3,335 units), followed by the Yamaha MT-07 and Ténéré 700, Honda CRF 1000 Africa Twin and CB 650 R Neo Sports Café, Kawasaki Z650, Suzuki SV 650, Honda CMX 500 Rebel and KTM 890 Duke in 10th spot.
With six models in the top 30 bestsellers, it is no surprise that BMW is (again) the runaway market share leader in its home market with a 21.27% share (20,410 total units sold YTD). Kawasaki is a distant second with a 10.91% share (10,467 units), followed by Honda (10.79%/10,350 units), Yamaha (8.43%/8,090 units) and KTM fifth (8.42%/8,078 units). The top ten sees Harley-Davidson in sixth, followed by Ducati, Triumph, Suzuki and Royal Enfield in 10th place (3.25% share/2,883 units sold YTD).
Harley's best selling model was the Sportster S (890 units), followed by the Pan America (651 units) and the Street Bob 114 (574 units).
For the record - motorcycle registrations for the 2021 full year in Germany were -11.90% (116,407 units), with total PTWs at -9.71% (197,540 units) against 218,778 units in 2020 and 165,311 units in 2019. In 2020, the German motorcycle market grew by +16.89% (132,126 compared to a Euro 4/5 transition-distorted 113,039 in 2019).
