HONDA took overall honours but Yamaha, Harley Davidson and Vespa all get some bragging rights in 2015 Australian sales figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

Australians bought just shy of 109,000 bikes, ATVs and scooters for the year, steady with 2014.

Honda was the largest selling brand, holding 22.5 per cent of the market. In second place was Yamaha with 21.4 per cent (23,290). Kawasaki was third with 9.8 per cent (10,675), Suzuki was fourth with 9 per cent (9,806) and Harley-Davidson was fifth with 9 per cent (9,790).

Road bike sales were strong, increasing 2.6 per cent compared to 2014 and accounting for 41.4 per cent of the total market. Australians rode home with a total of 45,013 road bikes in 2015.

Harley-Davidson took out the top position for sales in the road bike category. Harley-Davidson’s 9,790 new road bike sales accounted for 21.7 per cent of the total road bike market. Honda was the second highest selling brand, in this category, with 17.1 per cent of road bike sales (7,691). Honda was followed by Yamaha with 15.4 per cent (6,914), Kawasaki with 12.7 per cent (5,731) and BMW with 7.1 per cent (3,201).

Off-road motorcycle purchases accounted for almost 35 per cent of total market sales, with 37,982 Australians taking home a new off-road bike. The popularity of these vehicles has remained relatively steady from 2014, with the 37,982 sales representing a 0.8 per cent increase on 2014 figures.

Yamaha again led the market for off-road motorcycles, selling 31.7 per cent (12,048) of the total off‑road bikes sold. Yamaha was followed by Honda with 27.2 per cent (10,318), KTM with 15.2 per cent (5,787), Suzuki with 11.7 per cent (4,432) and Kawasaki with 9.8 per cent (3,713).

The ATV market grew by 1.2 per cent in 2015 (compared to 2014), with a total of 20,327 ATVs sold. The total sales represent 18.7 per cent of the total 2015 motorcycle market. Honda was the leading ATV brand, selling 27.2 per cent (5,526) of the total ATV sales. Polaris was second with 25.1 per cent (5,095), Yamaha was third with 19.3 per cent (3,922), Suzuki was fourth with 11.2 per cent (2,283) and BRP was fifth with 9.4 per cent (1,901)

Scooter sales continue to decline, with total sales in 2015 down 22.7 per cent on 2014 sales figures. Vespa topped the list in the scooter market, selling 19.4 per cent (1,044) of the total 5,389 scooters sold. Piaggio came in second with 18.8 per cent (1,011), Honda was third with 18.6 per cent (1,000), Aprillia was fourth with 9 per cent (487) and Yamaha was fifth with 7.5 per cent (406). Scooter sales account for 5 per cent of the total motorcycle market.

 

Peter Terlick
pterlick@hotmail.com