2018 Australian Motorcycle Market Report – Off Road Bikes

For the Top Ten off road bikes, see the overall Top Ten category, as its almost identical, with the only differences being the TTR110E and YZ250F from Yamaha.

The big mover in the past twelve months has been KTM’s 300EXC, with 1,052 sales representing a 72.5 per cent increase on 2017’s figures. KTM was also the only major brand to see a sales increase in the off road market (5,900 in 2018 versus 5,832 in 2017). But while KTM is strong in the Enduro subcategory, with five of the ten best sellers, they’re almost invisible everywhere else.

Yamaha was the best brand in off road with 11,055 sales in 2018, followed by Honda with 9,807. KTM actually outsold Kawasaki (3,567) and Suzuki (2,526) by a significant margin, with the latter in danger of being overtaken by Husqvarna this year, following their total of 1,986 off road bike sales in 2018.

In the Trail subcategory, reduced numbers for every model in the Top Ten points to Aussies having less money to spend on weekend fun machines, but Honda’s CRF230F still saw 1,095 sales for the year (down by 6.6 per cent).

In motocross, Yamaha’s investment in, and promotion of, the YZ65 Cup junior race series paid off with 349 sales of the all-new model.

Honda’s CRF450R and Kawasaki’s KX450F both saw sales increase for the year (9.2 and 22.2 per cent, respectively), but they couldn’t unseat Yamaha’s YZ250F and YZ450F, which have gone 1-2 in this subcategory for years. In 2018, the 250F got the edge over its bigger brother by 29 sales (797 v 768), but both totals were slightly down on 2017 numbers.

In the farm subcategory, strong sales increases for Honda’s AG-XR (659, +153.5 per cent on its 2017 debut) and Yamaha’s AG125 (138, +557.1 per cent) point to rural buyers selecting these models as more affordable alternatives to quads that have become prominent as farm workhorses in the past few years. With the rural sector hurting in so many areas, increased sales here are encouraging.

Top 10 Off Road bikes – 2018

(sales increase/decrease compared to 2017)

1. Honda CRF50F             2,159 (-8.6%)
2. Yamaha PW50              1,953 (+5.9%)
3. Yamaha TT-R50E          1,715 (-6.4%)
4. Honda CRF110F            1,487 (-0.5%)
5. Kawasaki KLX110         1,246 (-14.5%)
6. Yamaha WR450F          1,136 (-14.9%)
7. Honda CRF230F            1,095 (-6.6%)
8. KTM 300EXC                1,052 (+72.5%)
9. Yamaha TT-R110E         1,048 (-0.9%)
10. Yamaha YZ250F           797 (-1.8%)