Overall U.S. Motorcycle Sales Results ... 2024

[SLDMRossi]

Motorcycles Industry Trend and Perspectives

The two-wheeler market in the United States is the 14th largest in the World and one of the more stable, with annual volume steady in the range of around half a million since over a decade.

Following the weak performance (-4.6%) reported last year, when all economic indicators hits the best in this century, the start of 2025 was awful for the domestic market, showing a fast declining consumers demand. Year to date February sales have been 55.475 (-11.2) with February dropping 20.7% after a +4.5% reported in January.

In the competitive arena, having finally scored a year-on-year growth, the leadership is again in the Honda hands, although sales are declining 15.3%.

However, it seems that the victim of the ne economic wave in the States is and will be the american icon, actually in second place,  Harley-Davidson, which started losing a deep 25.2%

Third place of the podium confirmed by Kawasaki booming sales by 21.6%.

Behind Yamaha (-1.0%), KTM (-34.4%), BMW (+10.0%) and Suzuki (-18.5%).

motorcyclesdata.com

[jrt]

Wow.  Thanks for the info.   I would expect sales up to February to be slow anyhow- is that down 20.7% year on year, or Jan-->Feb?

[9fingers]

Consumer confidence is dismal right now. But I was in Blackman's Cycle, out in Emmaus Pa, on Saturday, and people were buying stuff like crazy, probably pre tariff and Spring weather related.

[Kev m]

Consumer confidence is dismal right now. But I was in Blackman's Cycle, out in Emmaus Pa, on Saturday, and people were buying stuff like crazy, probably pre tariff and Spring weather related.

Do they still have that ridiculous $50K Gucci Vespa?

[rocker59]

Consumer confidence is dismal right now. But I was in Blackman's Cycle, out in Emmaus Pa, on Saturday, and people were buying stuff like crazy, probably pre tariff and Spring weather related.

What was the age range of those spending money last Saturday?  Confidence for those 55 and over and those making less than $125k is down, but people under 35 making good money have high confidence.  I'm sure stock market volatility is spooking older folks with large 401k investments.  Younger folks with good jobs are living life.

Problem with the motorcycle industry is a lot of their customer base is well past 55 these days, and those folks spend less and less money on powersports toys as they grow older.

[Motormike]

"Younger Folks" aren't buying motorcycles these days.  They buy electric scooters, and even cooler electric unicycles!  Most aren't even bothering to get a driver's license, what with the cost of cars, fuel, insurance, parking, on and on.  Uber seems to work just fine for the urban under 40 set.  Can't say I blame them. 

[kballowe]

I wonder.... sales went crazy '21-'23.  Well, at least the dealer show rooms were bare.  Side-by-sides were impossible to get.  Camper trailer trailers were also way up.  Etc.  And much of the pricing went up, as well.

Does anyone but me think that most everyone that wanted a motorcycle, HAS a motorcycle ?  I would think that his would at least be a contributing factor.

Just a thought.  I don't even know if the sales numbers support this.

[blu guzz]

I was selling Lexus cars in the early 90s when a Luxury Tax was imposed on cars costing over $40,000 starting at the beginning of 1992.  We emptied the showroom of the larger LS400s at the end of the year.  It took until May to come back into equilibrium.  I think your theory is sound.  I would add that during and right after the pandemic, many people who had never considered riding may have joined to party simply looking for a new hobby. That could have inflated sales numbers to.

[Guffman]

"Younger Folks" aren't buying motorcycles these days.  They buy electric scooters, and even cooler electric unicycles!  Most aren't even bothering to get a driver's license, what with the cost of cars, fuel, insurance, parking, on and on.  Uber seems to work just fine for the urban under 40 set.  Can't say I blame them.

   Young people still buy motorcycles but they are a lot poorer than previous generations so when trying to start a family it's a hard cost to justify. I think manufacturers understand this which is why there is such a boom in affordable parallel twins and to a lesser extent affordable retros.

[Dr. Enzo Toma]

Yep, friend of mine (also under 35) really liked my V7 and was looking into them but a local shop by him got a clean RE Conti GT 650 on trade with less than 200 miles on it so he picked that up for under $6k OTD instead. At age 34, I have ten street legal motorcycles, of which one is a Moto Guzzi. I plan on picking up either a Dax 125 or Kawasaki W230 later this year if tariffs don't mess up their pricing. Affordable and/or retro are hits.

[rocker59]

I wonder.... sales went crazy '21-'23.  Well, at least the dealer show rooms were bare.  Side-by-sides were impossible to get.  Camper trailer trailers were also way up.  Etc.  And much of the pricing went up, as well.
 

During -, interest in outdoor activities spiked.  Here in the Aux Arcs, we were over run with people from big cities filling up the State/National Parks and National Forest properties. 

[9fingers]

What was the age range of those spending money last Saturday?  Confidence for those 55 and over and those making less than $125k is down, but people under 35 making good money have high confidence.  I'm sure stock market volatility is spooking older folks with large 401k investments.  Younger folks with good jobs are living life.

Problem with the motorcycle industry is a lot of their customer base is well past 55 these days, and those folks spend less and less money on powersports toys as they grow older.

Honestly, I was there to buy a Stelvio and pay too much attention the ages, but what I would say they people well under 55. And I didn't buy the Stelvio.........at least not there.......they don't give a crap about Moto Guzzi. One phone call to a dealership that DOES care......that is different! I pick it up Thursday.

[kballowe]

Being a little bored - I went to look at the motorcycle offerings from Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki.

I was specifically looking at cruiser, two-up motorcycles.  It appears that motorcycles for that market have mostly disappeared.
Honda has a 750 Shadow, Suzuki an 800, Kawasaki has a 900 and 1700.  Yamaha doesn't offer a cruiser, nor a big touring bike.

I remember when Honda offered a 600, 750, 1100, 1300, and 1800 "cruisers".  Yamaha had 650, 1100, 1300 - and a couple of large displacement pushrod bikes around 1800cc. 

[Moparnut72]

Mid size is all the rage now, 600 to 900 except for Harley and Indian for the most part. Harley is struggling now partly due to the fact they only sell mostly road sofas.
kk

[bad Chad]

The Asian makers seemed to have given up trying to compete with HD in head to head.  As you point out most still have a couple HD centric cruisers, but they are no longer trying to gain a sizable part of that market.  In fact, other than Indian, who has had limited success, no other manufacture has been able to crack the stranglehold that HD has.

[Kev m]

The Asian makers seemed to have given up trying to compete with HD in head to head.  As you point out most still have a couple HD centric cruisers, but they are no longer trying to gain a sizable part of that market.  In fact, other than Indian, who has had limited success, no other manufacture has been able to crack the stranglehold that HD has.

Two thoughts about that:

* Perhaps Victory and Indian proved that JAPanInc would never have what was needed for that market - an American "Heritage" Story. I mean in a lot of ways Victory and Indian were the same basic products with largely cosmetic differences, but Indian instantly sold in numbers better than Victory.

* Another possibility is they saw this market saturation coming and, especially now with two US players already dividing a smaller market they decided it wasn't worth the investment to continue to pursue for a tiny portion of a shrinking pie.

[slopokes]

9fingers did you get the Guzzi in jersey???