Australian motorcycle sales increase in 2021

After 2020’s “COVID boom” in new motorcycle sales in Australia, numbers increased again in 2021, with 123,530 new motorcycles and OHVs sold for the calendar year, according to data released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) in January.

Of the four main market segments – Road, Off-Road, OHV (including SxS and ATVs) and Scooter – all enjoyed healthy sales increases in 2021, with total sales for the year a 13.4 per cent increase on 2020’s total of 108,926.

It should be noted that the 2021 numbers, like those of previous years, are based on FCAI members’ sales only and do not include sales from non-FCAI importers like Urban Moto Imports (Royal Enfield, MV Agusta, Benelli, Segway, Peugeot Motocycles, Super Soco), Mojo Motorcycles (CFMoto, Sherco, Kymco) and others.

Add these in and the total for 2021 is likely to be closer to 150,000.

FCAI Chief Executive, Tony Weber, said that despite the ongoing pandemic – or perhaps because of it - the new motorcycle market remained healthy, even in the wake of stock shortages and supply issues that affected many industries last year.

“The pandemic has meant less access to showrooms for consumers. Despite this, all sectors of the motorcycle and OHV market recorded growth throughout 2021. This demonstrates the quality of product that manufacturers are sending to Australia,” Weber said.

As in 2020, the off-road sector led the way, with 53,118 sales last year: an increase of 18.8 per cent on 2020 figures.

OHV sales for 2021 reached 28,321 units: an increase of 13.9 per cent. This would have been fuelled, in part, by last-minute buying ahead of some brands withdrawing their utility ATVs from the market rather than fit the OPD safety equipment that became mandatory last October for all new utility ATVs sold in Australia.

Road bike sales increased 6.8 per cent on 2020’s numbers, with 37,270 units sold, accounting for 30.17 per cent of the total market.

The Scooter segment rebounded from a drop in 2020 to record 4,821 sales for the year – but this was still down on 2019’s total of 5,014.

In terms of the best-selling makes and models, that’s largely a mystery, as the FCAI hasn’t supplied ‘Top 10’ sales information, brand and subcategory data since 2019.

What is known is that Honda was Australia’s top-selling brand in 2021, with 32,244 sales across all segments. This, says Honda, was a significant 38.4 per cent increase on their sales in 2020 and accounted for 26.1 per cent of the total market.

Honda say they were the country’s top brand in Road, Off-Road and Scooter categories, and had the top two selling individual models in the CRF110F and CRF50F. These two models were also Australia’s top two in 2020, with the CRF50F #1 in 2019.

2021 Australian Motorcycle Market Overview*

Segment          2021 sales        2020 sales        Percentage +/-             Market Share

Road                37,270              34,912              +6.8 per cent                 30.17 per cent

Scooter            4,821                4,461                +8.1 per cent                 3.9 per cent

Off-Road          53,118              44,697              +18.8 per cent               43 per cent

OHV                 28,321              24,856              +13.9 per cent               22.92 per cent

TOTAL             123,530             108,926             +13.4 per cent              100 per cent

*FCAI Members only