MOTORCYCLE sales in Australia have gone ballistic with more than 10,000 extra sales in the first six months of 2020 compared with the same period in 2019 on the back of off-road bike and all-terrain sales.

The boom in off-road machinery is attributed directly to the asset write-off allowance and buyers avoiding impending new laws requiring roll-over protection on all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) used mainly in primary industry.

Greater family activities during the pandemic with attention centred around motorcycles and particularly, kids’ bikes, is also listed as a reason for the sales boom.

Road bikes, by comparison, fell in numbers compared with the same period last year. This was despite some commentators saying motorcycle sales increased because of social distancing and the need for economical commuting.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) reported that 52,838 motorcycles and ATVs were sold from January to June 2020, compared with 42,457 during the same period in 2019.

“This represents a strong 24.5 per cent increase in sales, a bright spot in an economic environment that has been predominantly negative over the past four months,” said FCAI chief executive Tony Weber.

The ATV segment was the most popular with 14,545 sales compared with 9638 sales in the first half of 2019.  Off-road motorcycles reported 20,885 sales in the half year, compared to 14,666 in the same period 2019.

“The ATV and SSV segment is up a remarkable 50.9 per cent and now represents 27.5 per cent of the total market,” Mr Weber said.

“Off-road bikes are also on fire, with an increase of 42.4 per cent, and claiming 39.5 per cent of the total market.”

He said the popularity of these two segments was believed to be a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People can’t go for overseas holidays, and for quite some time, they couldn’t even go for holidays within Australia,” he said.

“So, we believe that, instead of spending up big on expensive family vacations, people are treating themselves in different ways – and this could mean they are taking up new sports like trail bike riding.

“ATVs and SSVs are also popular, and we understand this is due to the government’s instant asset write-off program which makes the purchase of farm machinery and equipment very attractive at the present time.”

GoAutoNews Premium has also been told that ATVs and SSVs (side-by-side vehicles, indicating two seats and sometimes termed SXS) jumped more than 50 per cent as the federal government moves to implement safety standard upgrades, including roll-over protection standards (ROPS) from vehicles sold after October 11, 2021.

National motorcycle publication MCNews.com.au said that because of the impending law, brands including Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Polaris have said they will stop selling ATVs in Australia.

“These respected brands deem the ROPS bars unsafe and as such, refuse to fit them to their vehicles,” said MC News editor Trevor Hedge.

“This has seen farmers and people on the land rush their dealers to such a point that most brands have been really struggling to meet demand and have effectively run out of stock of their most popular models.”

Mr Hedge said that according to accident data this year “we have been able to ascertain that the fatalities recorded are split 50:50 between ATVs and SSVs.”

“Government agencies do not separate that data so it makes it appear that all fatalities are the result of ATVs, while that is not the case,” he told GoAutoNews Premium.

The explosion in off-road bikes and ATVs slewed the motorcycle sales story, giving a picture that all bikes did well during the past six months.

But, in fact, road bikes and scooters recorded falling sales. Road bikes had 15,243 sales during the first half, down 2.7 per cent on the same period last year, while scooters recorded 2166 sales, down 12.8 per cent, for the first half of 2020.

Overall, the most popular motorcycle and ATV brand was Honda with year-to-date sales of 12,563 units that gave it a market share of 23.8 per cent.

Its ATV sales were up 62.6 per cent on the first half of 2019, while off-road bikes were up 31.4 per cent. However road bikes fell 13.3 per cent and scooters were down 15.9 per cent.

Honda Motorcycles’ general manager Tony Hinton told MC News that aside from bike sales, rider training, licensing and learner course numbers were “through the roof” and were the “first time I have seen these kinds of numbers for our training in over 10 years”.

Honda sales were followed by Yamaha (23.4 per cent market share), Kawasaki (12.4 per cent), KTM (8.3 per cent) and Suzuki (6.8 per cent).

By Neil Dowling