Motorcycle sales, the crisis continues

Motorcycles with a displacement greater than 50 cc record a decline in registrations equal to 16,8% compared to the same month last year. For the world of fifties the negative trend is not very different: -13%. More generally, in 2011 just under 70 thousand fewer vehicles were sold than the previous year. A number that becomes even more worrying if you consider that in 2010, compared to 2009, a decline of 22% was recorded.

The reason? The wind of economic crisis that blows all over the world. To which, according to the National Association of Motorcycle Cycle Accessories must be added the lack of incentive campaigns. And again, the grip of the Consumer credit and the growth of management costs of vehicles or “the prohibitive insurance rates”, “the excise taxes on fuel”, and “theVAT increase".

Corrado Capelli, president of this branch of Confindustria, relies on the numbers and does not look for loopholes. According to him, it is necessary to reverse the trend "through actions especially in favor of younger customers who today find it difficult to be able to purchase". It is therefore not surprising that the second-hand market manages to raise a few smiles with that timid +1,6%. According to Capelli, it is the sign of a never-waning interest in two-wheeled vehicles: “Companies in the sector – it is certain – will do their part to offer potential customers vehicles that are increasingly safe and compatible with the environment, but it is essential that they also institutions create the necessary conditions for recovery".