For a fourth consecutive year, sales of motorcycles and scooters in France has declined. While 2007 was a record year, 2011 is turning out to be one of the worst of this millennium.
Just have a look at the graph below, showing you the sales of motorcycles and scooters in the 125+ cc category:
But it's not all bad news. The big bikes (1000+ cc) increased their sales by 5.6%. Below are the top 10 sales by model.
| # | Model | Units | | 1 | Yamaha 125 Xmax | 8033 | | 2 | Honda PCX 125 | 5486 | | 3 | Kawasaki Z750 | 4654 | | 4 | Yamaha XJ600 | 3982 | | 5 | Honda CB600F | 3660 | | 6 | Kawasaki ER-6 | 3556 | | 7 | Yamaha 500 Tmax | 3555 | | 8 | Yamaha FZ8 | 3336 | | 9 | Piaggio X Evo 125 | 3216 | | 10 | Suzuki 125 Burgman | 3080 |
| Despite the fact that in the top 10, there is only one European manufacturer, Honda is the only Japanese manufacturer who saw an increase (+1.9%), while the European manufactures did the best overall: KTM, Moto Guzzi, BMW, Triumph and Ducati saw spectacular increases (+44.6%, 72%, 15.4%, 12.4% and 10.3% respectively).
Harley-Davidson did pretty good as well, with an increase of 20%.
The biggest losers were Kawasaki (-5.1%), Suzuki (-12%) and Yamaha (-11.4%). |
Does this mean that the Japanese domination is over? Far from it, which is apparent from the top sales per model. In the top 50, only 18 are European, the rest Asian. But the European manufacturers have become innovative, making bikes that interest the bikers. Ducati's Diavel sold 764 units just for that model, and that is not a full year (since it went on sale during Spring 2011).
The first European motorcycle in the Top 50 (and not a scooter) is Triumph with its 675 Street Triple, selling 2330 units.
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