Market reports – Boom, when the big cubes go boom! –

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Boom, when the big cubes go boom !

Market reports - Boom, when the big cubes go boom! -

With 17,838 two-wheelers registered, the month of October offers a very satisfactory result: sales of 125s maintained their impressive pace (+ 33.4%) while those of large-displacement cars achieved a real good of + 22.2%. Analysis.

Years pass and are not alike. Certainly, October 2005 marked the start of an uninterrupted increase in sales of 125 until today, but it was also a disappointing month for the big cubes, from which only Triumph and Kawasaki had brilliantly come out (read ).

In October 2006, the 125s are still selling as well, not to say even better: + 33.4% compared to October 2005! Small engines – especially scooters – continue to attract the French (+ 27.7% compared to the first ten months of 2005) and the milestone of 100,000 vehicles sold should be crossed in the coming days..

On the large-engine side, the situation in one year has changed dramatically: the gloomy -7% in 2005 gives way to a remarkable + 22.2% and sales trends by brand are reversed. Compared to last year, 4,600 large cubes were sold, which represents an overall increase of 4.6%.

Market 125

This month, the best progress can be attributed to Peugeot and Suzuki. With respective increases of 95.7% and 92.7%, the two brands are fiercely competing for 4th place in France. For this, the Sochaux offers its two Satelis: the "standard" (363 sales) and its Kompressor version (217 sales), which will certainly allow it to double its 2005 results (+ 106.1% at the end of October 2006).

Despite the decline of its "old" Burgman (321 sales), Suzuki remains well above the level of its 2005 sales: + 20% over the first ten months. With its new Burgman, better equipped but offered at 3,249 €, Suzuki is aiming a little higher … Will this allow it to keep pace with Peugeot? Response from November !

However, the best growth in October was achieved by "other manufacturers", which sold more than double the number of vehicles compared to October 2005 with an increase of + 125.6% to be exact. The Skyteam (168 sales), Kin Road (95), Yi Ying (75) and other Keeway (45) are indeed becoming less and less negligible players in the French landscape of 125: 16.69% of market share for October 2006 (read).

But the road is still long to reach the volumes of Yamaha! With 2,198 vehicles registered, the brand with three tuning forks achieves close to a quarter of sales for the month (23.16%). And by placing three of his products in the first four places, Yam undoubtedly becomes the king of the 125 !

The Xmax, in particular, literally crushes the competition: its 735 sales leave the X8 very far behind (477), even though it is 2nd in October. Piaggio also had a disappointing tenth month (+6 sales or + 0.4%!) Compared to + 33.4% for the entire market. Its MP3 (read) has already sold 107 copies for its first month on the market and reached 40th place in the top sales for all engines combined. Not enough for now to counter Yamaha…

Third manufacturer in France for the 125s, Honda recorded a 9.7% increase in sales compared to October 2005 but still lost ground against the Italian: 16,008 registrations since January 2006 for the world number one against 16,308 for Piaggio. Suffice to say that Honda, whose 125 range will switch entirely to injection this winter (read), awaits 2007 with firm footing !

Still in the top 10 manufacturers, we note that the fight between Daelim and Kymco continues, the Korean and Taiwanese both representing about 3.3% of sales over the first ten months. In October, Daelim’s S2 peaked at 19th place in the 125 ranking: will it appear in the top 15 before 2007? Suspense…

On the other hand, nothing is going well for Aprilia, whose sales of 125 have fallen by 28.5%. This is the sixth month in a row that the manufacturer of Noale has seen its registrations decline compared to those of 2005: its 125 Tuono and MX suffer from general contempt for 2-strokes and do not support the Atlantic ( 108 sales) which will have to be replaced next year for lack of compliance with the Euro3 standard…

Large engine market

The month of October 2006 was a record month for the sales of large engines: the large cubes attracted 8,346 buyers, representing an increase of 22.2% compared to October 2005! The leading trio benefited greatly, starting with Suzuki, which established its place as French number one in the over 125 cc sector..

The Bandit 650 retains the lead in model sales with 471 sales while the GSR ranks 6th with 300 deliveries. In 14th position, the Burgman 650 sold 112 copies but was overtaken by the Honda Silverwing 400 (118). As for the Yamaha TMax (soon to be tested on Moto-Net), it remains undoubtedly the favorite maxi scooter of the French with 239 copies sold..

Yamaha also signs an excellent month compared to last year with an increase in sales of + 32.5%. However, in terms of market share, the manufacturer of Hamamatsu lost 2% compared to the 2006 total. Main reasons for this decline: the lower results of its FZ1 (205 sales), FJR 1300 (91) and R6 (49) especially.

Honda is experiencing a similar situation: its increase of 35.2% compared to October 2005 does not allow it to grab market share. However, its best-sellers are doing very well this month: the CBF 1000 climbs four places compared to its cumulative ranking for the first ten months (10th with 129 sales) and the Hornet places 5th with 320 registrations, only 16 units less than the Kawasaki Z750.

The Kawa roadster is indeed in bad shape: its 336 sales take it away from the podium and it is even overtaken by the ER-6 and its 380 sales. The new Z750 will arrive too late to reverse the trend and Kawasaki therefore sees 3rd place in the general manufacturers’ standings move away definitively: 15,295 sales for the Greens against 16,641 for Honda two months from the end of the year..

At the beginning of 2007, however, promises to be much more contested with the battle of the Honda Hornet 600, Yamaha FZ6 S2 and Kawasaki Z750 – with very "manga" styles – and the new "water" Suzuki Bandit with a design that is still just as wise. !

On the European side, the meters are all green except for Triumph, "victim" of its records from last year. Difficult indeed for the English manufacturer to improve its sales: 207 this month against 209 in 2005. Next year, for the British brand to see its sales increase, the new Tiger 1050 (read) will have to stick out effectively bite the calves of CBFs, Fazers and other sporty road cars … To be continued, therefore !

KTM signs a good month of October (+ 49%), as does BMW (+ 28.1%) which finally sees the return of its R 1200RT among the top 15 best-selling models (9th with 147 acquisitions) . We note about BMW the registration of only one "34 horses", attesting to the little interest aroused by the brand among young drivers..

At the same time, Piaggio registered 143 scooters over 125 cc while the group has just announced the imminent arrival of a 500 cc "MP3": the Fucuo. Marketed under the Gilera brand, however, it will not increase Piaggio’s statistics..

The American manufacturer Harley-Davidson for its part sold 432 motorcycles in October, thus exceeding the 5% of MSR as well as KTM! Finally, still in addition to 125, we note that GasGas has registered 115 motorcycles, Aprilia 94, Moto Guzzi 69, Buell 50, Peugeot 44, Husqvarna 38, MV 15, Voxan 9 and Morini 5.

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