Motorcycle market May 2005: trompe l’oeil growth

After an encouraging month in April, this month of May looks good, with growth of 4.7% for the 125s and 19.5% for the big cars. A satisfactory motorcycle market, which received a slight unexpected boost…

After an encouraging month of April, this month of May seems well oriented, with growth of 4.7% for the 125 and 19.5% for the big cars.
In reality, between coincidences of the calendar and Whit Monday worked, the month of May 2005 included 3 working days more than in 2004. Which corresponds, for the same duration, to a decrease of 7.8% of registrations 125 and a increase of only 5.2% of over 125.
These figures confirm on the one hand the decline in sales of 125 seen since the beginning of the year after several years of growth, and on the other hand a modest but solid increase in sales of large engines..
In any case, this puts into perspective the supposed invasion of city centers by motorized two-wheelers, recently mentioned by the City of Paris.
Finally, the quad market regains color in the spring (+ 19.3%) to return to its 2004 level.

Market 125:

Piaggio passed Honda in May, yet the two leaders progressed faster than the market with + 9.8% and + 10.7%. The Piaggio X9 continues to lose ground, as does the Honda Pantheon, competing within the Honda lineup by the new Dylan and SH125.

Yamaha is losing a lot of ground with -20.2% despite the good performance of the Majesty 125, which takes the lead in sales, and the expected reinforcement of the XT 125X. In fact, this decline reflects the collapse of sales of the TW 125.

Behind the 3 leaders, the outsiders rebelled: Suzuki recorded a good progression of its Burgman 125 (+ 32.5%), MBK continued its offensive (22.5%) and, more surprisingly, Aprilia raised its head with its new range 2005 (+ 59.7%).
Hopefully this is the end of a troubled time for Noale’s builder.

Peugeot is still on the defensive (-30.9%) while Kymco (+ 25.2%) hoists its Dink 125 for the first time in the top 10.

Market over 125:

The Suzuki Bandit 650, reinforced with a streamlined version and an ABS, has definitely made forget its predecessor by taking second place in the market behind the Kawasaki Z 750. It therefore relegates to 3rd place the Yamaha Fazer, fallen queen of the French market. Suzuki can also count on the still intact prestige of the GSXR 1000. Bikers still covet this queen of the track and the 2005 version takes the lead in the category with a 5th place in sales. !

Suzuki therefore regains its leadership position (+ 28.6%) ahead of Yamaha, which is struggling a bit despite the price drop of the Fazer (+ 8.3%).

After the euphoria of the launch, the MT-01 retains a nice 10th place more in line with its particular character and its elitist price.

Despite the mixed success of the Hornets and CBFs, Honda maintains its position (+ 15.4%).

Quite the opposite of Kawasaki, whose success for the Z750 cannot hide the brand’s stagnation in sales (+ 6.7%), sports cars in particular are far from their former glory.

But as in previous months, it is the European and American specialists in character motorcycles who are the main beneficiaries of the market increase..

BMW first (+ 23.6%), whose success of the R 1200RT is impressive: 8th place for a motorcycle displayed at no less than € 16,500 excluding options !

Harley Davidson (+ 36.8%), Ducati (+ 23.9%) and KTM (+ 21.1%) also benefit from the craze for exclusive motorcycles.

But it’s the progress Triumph has made since the start of the year that impresses the most. In May, the arrival of the 2005 models further accelerated the growth of the manufacturer of Hinckley with + 117.2% !

Finally, as in 125, we note the awakening of Aprilia which records encouraging sales (+ 101%), as long as it lasts.

Next month, we will do a more complete review of the whole of the first half of 2005. In particular, we will see in more detail the performance of small players like Voxan, MV Agusta and Sherco. Indeed, the sales volumes of these manufacturers are too low to make assessments on a monthly basis..

Benoît LACOSTE

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