Study Shows Motorcycle Market Expands While eMoto Sales Flatten

According to a study by the market research company Freedonia Group, Global demand for all types of motorcycles is projected to climb 3.8 percent per year through 2020 to 113 million units. Internal combustion engine (ICE) models have historically dominated the global motorcycle market, but demand for e-bikes and electric scooters, motorcycles, and mopeds has grown rapidly.

In 2005, electric models accounted for just 22 percent of worldwide motorcycle sales. Their share of the market grew to 35 percent in 2015, as the use of electric motorcycles in China increased sharply.

"Multiple developed countries – particularly Germany, the Netherlands, and the US – also registered rapid electric product sales growth during the 2010-2015 period,” said analyst Gleb Mytko.

Global demand for ICE motorcycles is forecast to increase 5.5 percent per year through 2020. Advances will be fueled by strong ICE product sales gains in a wide range of industrializing nations. As personal incomes in these countries rise between 2015 and 2020, a much larger number of households will be able to afford motorcycles. Improving market conditions in the US, Western Europe, Japan, and other mature markets will contribute to growth as well.

Worldwide sales of e-bikes and electric motorcycles, scooters, and mopeds is projected to be flat during the 2015-2020 period because of declining product demand in China, by far the world's largest market for electric models. Thus the market share of electric motorcycles at the global level is projected to fall considerably by 2020. However, demand for electric motorcycles outside of the country is forecast to grow at a double-digit annual pace during this period.

In developed nations, e-bikes will continue to rapidly capture market share from bicycles. The World Motorcycle Sales Study is available right here.