Australian Motorcycle And Scooter Sales Slump In Q1 2023

All two-wheeled categories lose ground in the first three months of the year.

By: Dustin Wheelen

Apr 17, 2023 at 5:23pm ET

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As the motorcycle industry copes with the post-COVID-19 world, we’ve seen both European and Asian markets experience periods of spikes and slumps. Those rollercoaster sales charts may not qualify as the ideal growth models, but they’re all the envy of Australia’s motorcycle and scooter market.

By the end of 2022, the Land Down Under’s two-wheeled sales shrunk by nearly 20 percent. While the country slowed the bleeding in Q1 2023, it still registered an 8.1-percent drop compared to the same period in 2022. The most significant decrease occurred within the scooter segment, where Aussies only purchased 1,434 units. Against the 1,696 vehicles sold in the first three months of 2022, that accounts for a 15.4-percent sales plummet.

The off-road segment didn’t fare much better either. Selling just 8,242 units, the category reported a 14.5-percent dip compared to the 9,644 bikes registered in Q1 2022. On the other hand, on-road models returned a more modest decrease. Between January and March, 2022, Australian customers purchased 9,723. During that same period in 2023, dealers moved 9,150 units, equating to a 5.9-percent decline.

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The market's only saving grace was the OHV segment, which includes ATVs and side-by-side vehicles. Though the class only recorded 3,548 units sold, that’s an 8.3-percent improvement over the 3,275 examples purchased in Q1 2022. Overall, consumers bought 22,374 vehicles in the first three months of the year, resulting in an 8.1-percent market contraction when compared to the 24,388 units sold during the first quarter of 2022.

Similar to the 2022 year-end figures, Australia’s Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries’ (FCAI) report doesn’t include sales numbers from brands like Royal Enfield, Benelli, MV Agusta, Segway, CFMOTO, or Kymco. Given those exemptions, critics estimate that total Q1 2023 sales could be closer to 30,000 units. Unfortunately, without data to back up those claims, the FCAI can only relay another quarter of suffering sales.