2008 motorcycle sales continued to exceed the one million mark

While the motorcycle industry is facing some challenging times in the current economy, some impressive numbers managed to come together for 2008.

Although total sales did decline, retailers managed to sell more than one million motorcycles and scooters making 2008 the sixth straight year to achieve that milestone. According the figures released by the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) scooters were more popular than ever setting a record of 222,000 sold in 2008 adding considerably to the total number of 1,087,000 units that set the ongoing record.

The total 2008 sales were down 3.3% compared to 2007 which were recorded at 1,124,000.

The MIC is a not-for-profit, national trade association representing manufacturers and distributors of motorcycles, scooters, motorcycle/ATV/ROV parts and accessories, and members of allied trades such as publishing companies, advertising agencies, insurance firms and consultants. They collect monthly sales figures from BMW, Can-Am, Ducati, Harley-Davidson/Buell, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, the Piaggio Group, Victory, Suzuki, Triumph and Yamaha.

Noting that there are some distributors and manufacturers not included in the reported monthly figures, these are preliminary numbers with the final 2008 sales being calculated and released later this year. Understanding the final numbers will be higher than those released this week, a new record has been set of the number of consecutive years annual sales exceeded a million units. The previous longest run of million-plus sales ever recorded by the Motorcycle Industry Council was during the five years from 1970 to 1974.

It was during the last run of sales exceeding one million a year when the motorcycle industry experience their all-time peak of 1.5 million new motorcycle sales in 1973, a number many manufacturers surely dream of now.

On a related note, a 2008 owner survey conducted by the MIC found that while the majority of bikers ride for enjoyment, the number of those in the saddle for multiple purposes, such as commuting has increased by 42% since its last survey in 2003. The fact that has become apparent on the roads were confirmed by the MIC survey, with 12.6% of those riding motorcycles as well as scooters are women.