The market for scooters and motorcycles has shrunk considerably in the past year. The decline across all four segments of the two-wheeler market is almost ten percent in a year-on-year comparison, with the clearly dominant and also high-margin motorcycles over 125 cubic centimeters achieving the worst result with a minus of around 12 percent. According to the Motorcycle Industry Association (IVM), a good 132,000 newly registered motorcycles in 2020 grew to 116,400. Many importers complained about difficulties due to non-functioning supply chains; numerous dealers could have sold significantly more vehicles if they had been available. But the manufacturers often lacked the necessary electronic components.

BMW got off well.

The only German motorcycle brand - you hardly see or hear anything from Horex anymore, the IVM shows only one new registration for 2021 instead of the previous 53 - was able to sell 26,699 motorcycles and scooters, just 13 fewer than in 2020. 194 were sold worldwide 261 units delivered, an increase of 14.8 percent and a new record.

The 200,000 units targeted for 2020 were almost reached with a one-year delay.

But Corona and all the resulting difficulties were not yet visible on the horizon at the time of the forecast (2014).

Because many brands weakened in 2021, BMW expanded its market share in Germany from 20 to almost 23 percent even without an increase in the number of units.

Honda in second managed 14,459 units, a drop of six percent.

It was significantly worse for the four runners-up: KTM lost around 2,800 units and achieved 13,664 registrations, Kawasaki lost 2,650 (now 12,191), Yamaha even 4,000 (still 8,730), Harley-Davidson lost 3,150 units to 7,889 units.

An increase of 600 vehicles was achieved by Ducati (now 6076 pieces), Triumph is at the same level with an increase of six units.

While Suzuki (minus 52.5 percent) and Husqvarna (minus 15.5) also lost feathers, Aprilia managed an increase of 85 percent to previously unthinkable 2620 units thanks to the new 660 models.

Brands with positive development include Moto Guzzi, Benelli,

The BMW R 1250 GS and its adventure version ran best in Germany last year. Almost 9,400 units received a number plate, 40 fewer than in the record year 2019. This means that 15.6 percent of the more than 60,000 Boxer GS bikes built have remained in Germany. Proven models occupy the following places: Kawasaki Z 900 and Z 650, Yamaha MT-07 and the Honda Africa Twin, although the three best chasing models together do not make the GS number.

Regarding the 125 light motorcycles: 33,978 pieces mean a decrease of ten percent; Yamaha, KTM and Honda march ahead. With 31,281 new registrations, light-duty scooters are almost on par, with tiny growth of 0.06 percent or 18 units. Two Vespas lead in front of another model from Piaggio. With only 15,874 registrations, power scooters form the smallest segment; they fell by almost ten percent in 2021. Here the 300 Vespa dominated the market with 6604 units; This is followed by a Honda and a Yamaha scooter, each with 757 units. It is remarkable how the three-wheel scooters established themselves in Germany in 2021 after years of trying. For the first time, four of them are listed among the ten best-selling power scooters.

The local decline in the number of registrations of motorcycles and scooters over 50 cc is also reflected in the balance sheet of the European manufacturers and importers association ACEM: While Germany had the highest number of registrations in Europe in 2020 with around 220,500 units, France was at the end of 2021 after growth of 8.5 percent to 207,000 units and Italy with an increase of 23.6 percent to 269,600 units ahead of Germany (199,100).

Spain (plus 8 percent) and Great Britain (plus 10 percent) also grew, but rank further behind Germany.