While the motorcycle industry is
facing some challenging times in the current
economy, some impressive numbers managed to come
together for 2008.
Although total sales did decline,
retailers managed to sell more than one million
motorcycles and scooters making 2008 the sixth
straight year to achieve that milestone. According
the figures released by the Motorcycle Industry
Council (MIC) scooters were more popular than ever
setting a record of 222,000 sold in 2008 adding
considerably to the total number of 1,087,000 units
that set the ongoing record.
The total 2008 sales were down 3.3%
compared to 2007 which were recorded at 1,124,000.
The MIC is a not-for-profit,
national trade association representing
manufacturers and distributors of motorcycles,
scooters, motorcycle/ATV/ROV parts and accessories,
and members of allied trades such as publishing
companies, advertising agencies, insurance firms and
consultants. They collect monthly sales figures from
BMW, Can-Am, Ducati, Harley-Davidson/Buell, Honda,
Kawasaki, KTM, the Piaggio Group, Victory, Suzuki,
Triumph and Yamaha.
Noting that there are some
distributors and manufacturers not included in the
reported monthly figures, these are preliminary
numbers with the final 2008 sales being calculated
and released later this year. Understanding the
final numbers will be higher than those released
this week, a new record has been set of the number
of consecutive years annual sales exceeded a million
units. The previous longest run of million-plus
sales ever recorded by the Motorcycle Industry
Council was during the five years from 1970 to 1974.
It was during the last run of sales
exceeding one million a year when the motorcycle
industry experience their all-time peak of 1.5
million new motorcycle sales in 1973, a number many
manufacturers surely dream of now.
On a related note, a 2008 owner survey conducted by the
MIC found that while the majority of bikers ride for
enjoyment, the number of those in the saddle for
multiple purposes, such as commuting has increased
by 42% since its last survey in 2003. The fact that
has become apparent on the roads were confirmed by
the MIC survey, with 12.6% of those riding
motorcycles as well as scooters are women.
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