The MCIA has reported that naked bikes saw an increase in sales of 10.9% to become the largest sector of motorcycles sold in the UK during 2018. Naked bikes have so far accounted for 33%, 34,058 registrations, of 2018’s motorcycle sales, an accolade previously held by the adventure bike sector.
The 50cc scooter market declined by 27% for the month of October and 21% for the whole year. It’s possible this is a result of some riders using 50cc scooters with full car licences switching to the bigger, more powerful, three-wheeled machines such as Piaggio’s MP3. On the subject of small capacity bikes, the 125cc sector is alive and well and accounted for almost a third of all new bike sales so far this year.
Head of the National Motorcycle Dealers Association (NMDA) Stephen Latham said: “Following September’s modest growth, it was disappointing to see the new motorcycle market decline by -2% in October. Positively, the market is still above 2017’s levels on a year to date basis.”
The statistics published on the MCIA website show a growth of 1.7% in the first 10 months of 2018, with 94,523 registrations compared to 92,912 in 2017.
