Is It Really Surprising?
Motorcycle sales had been slowing down, and then the Coronavirus pandemic hit, and they really took a nosedive. According to news reports, India, the world’s biggest motorcycle market has seen some serious drops. Some as high as 62 percent, according to The Hindu Business Line.
Hero MotoCorp was down 43 percent, Royal Enfield was down 44 percent, Bajaj was down 55 percent, and TVS Motor Company was down the most at 62 percent. The big foreign players in the Indian market were down a lot, too. Suzuki, and Honda both saw notable declines in business, and other bike manufacturers saw drops as well.
European markets were down, too. According to Motociclismo, the market went from being up 14.4 percent in Italy to being down 66 percent when compared to the same month last year. Overall, for the year so far, sales were down 24 percent across Italy. Other markets in Europe fared a little better, but they still saw declines.
At this time, I’m not seeing much info about the North American markets since the COVID-19 outbreak, but many bike manufacturers had already reported a slow-down in sales ahead of the pandemic, and it would stand to reason that sales would be tanking in the U.S. and Canada as well.
None of this is surprising. Many dealerships are closed, and people are supposed to be sheltering in place. It’s not a time to go out and buy a motorcycle, and I would expect that to continue until the pandemic ends or at least slows down and the economy opens back up. Judging by what health experts are advising, that could be a while out, still.