France: Net Decrease In New Motorcycle Sales Q1 2012 15 May 2012   Author: Mike Werner   Location: Normandy, France Via: CSIAM According to CSIAM , the French Association of International Vehicle Manufacturers, the sales of new motorcycles during the 1st quarter of 2012 in France was pretty bad. Last year during the same time frame, 61,504 motorcycles were sold, this time this year it dropped by 7.8% down to 56,711 motorcycles. Strangely enough, it's the 125cc market that has suffered the most, with a drop of -19.4%, while the best increase was that of three wheelers (MP3 etc) by +25.6%. Motorcycles and scooters over 125cc stayed stable, only increasing by +0.08%. One reason given for the decrease in 125cc sales, is that nowadays you need to have 7 hours of lessons before being able to ride one with a car license. The top 10 sales by brand were:  1. Yamaha: 11,1144 units (-6.7%)  2. Honda:- 9,059 units (-3.7%)  3. Kawasaki: 5,094 units (-16.1%)  4. Suzuki: 4,553 units (-21.0%)  5. BMW: 4,185 units (+15.5%)  6. Harley-Davidson: 3,086 units (-0.6%)  7. KTM: 2,424 units (+25.3%)  8. Piaggio: 2,260 units (-16.5%)  9. Triumph: 2,033 units (-24.0%) 10. Ducati: 1,689 units (+13.3%) blog comments powered by Disqus