General: Honda claims the top spot for 2009 bike sales
The FCAI has released motorcycle sales figures from 2009, with Honda the top seller for the year ahead of Yamaha and Suzuki. Off-Road bikes were the most popular segment despite a 13.4% decrease in sales, while Road bikes were 14.2% down. ATVs were the only segment to increase sales during the year.
Honda's CRF250R was the number one selling Motocross bike for 2009.
Official figures released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) this week show that 115,981 motorcycles, scooters and all-terrain vehicles were sold last year – a decrease of 13.6 per cent (18,298 units) over 2008.
“Given the circumstances, this is a very solid result,” FCAI CEO Andrew McKellar said. “The market has come off a very high base over the previous year, so the industry has certainly stood up well to the economic challenges.
“In fact, this is the fourth highest annual sales result on record and was achieved in tough economic circumstances. Some brands actually increased sales and deserve congratulations for that.”
ATVs were the only segment to have increased sales during 2009.
Off-Road bikes were the most popular segment in the marketplace with 42,848 sales (down 13.4%) followed closely by Road bikes with 42,372 sales (down 14.2%).
Scooter sales bore the brunt of the market downturn to fall 32.2 per cent (or 5,039 units).
“Looking ahead, there are many sound economic and environmental reasons for people to consider motorcycles and scooters for their transport requirements and 2010 will be a good time to seize opportunities in the marketplace,” Mr McKellar said.
Yamaha's revolutionary R1 was the best seller in the sportsbikes.
It was a tight race for top spot in 2009 with Honda claiming the position with 25,432 sales followed closely by Yamaha with 25,287 and then Suzuki with 16,995.
Some sales of note included the following, with the entire results downloadable below.
Honda’s CT110 was the top seller for the year overall at 2724 sales, edging out Kawasaki’s Ninja 250R and Suzuki’s DR-Z400E.
“We’re very pleased to have finished up in the top spot,” said Honda’s general manager of motorcycles Tony Hinton. “Since we became the number one retailer 11 years ago, over 300,000 customers have chosen our products, simply because it’s a Honda with a strong history of reliability, durability and value for money. That is not to say it hasn’t been a challenging year for all of the manufacturers, but Honda has achieved a lot that we can be proud of these past twelve months.”
Top selling sportsbike for the year was Yamaha’s YZF-R1 at 983, with Suzuki’s GS500F topping the Sports Touring category.
In the Supermotard segment it was Yamaha’s XT660 that edged out Suzuki’s DR-Z400SM, while the DR-Z400E topped the Enduro category from Yamaha’s WR450F.
Honda was back on top in Motocross with the CRF250R topping the CRF450R at 1578 sales, while Yamaha’s YZ250F and YZ450F were also popular to slot into third and fourth respectively.
Check out the full detailed results here:
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