Japanese made motorcycle exports to Europe January to Sept +14.55%
After two years of positive trends, and distorted statistics at the end of 2024, at this stage in 2025 it looks like European OE importers and distributors (and their dealers) are continuing to take higher levels of new unit inventory than might have been expected - especially at this time of year.
After a massive +126.84% spike in August (16,453 units exported by the 'Big Four' that month), September was more subdued at -22.12% (13,428 units).
The latest available data from JAMA (the automotive trade association in Japan, which includes representation of motorcycle manufacturers among its membership) shows total 250+ cc motorcycle exports to Europe from the Japanese factories were running at +14.55% for the nine months to the end of September 2025 (169,328 units).
Aside from 2023 (177,192 units), this has been the strongest first three quarters export performance to Europe since 2008 (252,041 units), with the highest seen in the 21st century so far being the 359,690 units sent to Europe in 2000.
The monthly export numbers for 2025 have varied wildly - January was +29.11% (20, 835 units) with February +18.67% (25,206) despite the unsold 'pre-reg' units that were sitting on showroom floors or in warehouses around Europe. March was +1.16% with May -13.44% and July was +39.23%.
Regardless of the fluctuations, it would appear that there is real growth among the Japanese manufacturers here in Europe, at least where imports from their home factories are concerned, and there is evidence of this in the financial reports filed so far this year by the 'Big Four'.
Total Japanese 'Big Four' 250+ cc factory exports to the USA were +5.45% for the period from January to September, with 70,838 units registered. Total worldwide exports of 250+ cc motorcycles from Japan +14.44% at 310,444 units. Global total PTW unit exports were +10.18% at 366,728 units YTD.
