Leisure demand drives up motorcycle market 18% in 10 months

[totalmotorcycle]

Leisure demand drives up motorcycle market 18% in 10 months
Friday, November 17, 2006 - By Roy Cokayne - Motoring South Africa - motoring.co.za



Sales of new motorcycles, scooters and quads, which are largely driven by leisure-orientated sales and are more sensitive to interest rate increases than new vehicle sales, have increased by more than 18 percent to 38 807 units in the first 10 months of 2006 - despite a slump in quads sales

Year-to-date sales of motorcycles and scooters have risen by nearly 40 percent to 22 086 units from the 15 793 units sold in the corresponding period last year, according to the latest sales figures released by the Association of Motorcycle Importers and Distributors (Amid).

This steep rise in sales is despite motorcycle and scooter sales reaching a 23-year high in 2005
Motorcycle and scooter sales reached a 23-year high in 2005
.

Former national director of Amid Arnold Olivier, now national sales and marketing manager for Kawasaki South Africa, said the growth in the market had already happened and any slowdown in sales would not have a big effect on the year-to-date sales numbers.

He said the two-wheeler market was growing strongly, almost in contradiction to the slowdown in the growth in new vehicles sales.

Sales were driven by a number of factors such as fuel price increases and traffic congestion, he said, which made motorcycles more attractive for commercial use. There was also an element of pre-emptive buying ahead of price increases due to the depreciation of the rand.

Motor industry analyst Tony Twine said it made intuitive sense that the bike market enjoyed strong growth this year
'This market runs parallel to household consumption of personal transport equipment'
.

In many ways this market ran parallel to household consumption of personal transport equipment, which SA Reserve Bank data showed had experienced real double-digit growth for the past few years.

He said: "Unfortunately there is no Reserve Bank data for 2006 or part of it, but we know that real growth in durable goods consumption is still in the mid-teens so lower-end personal transport items are likely to have done as well or even better."

Olivier admitted there had been a noticeable slowdown in quad sales in 2006, particularly in the childrens' and recreational categories.