Despite delivery problems, sales of new motorcycles have stabilized over the past year. A total of 15,548 motorcycles were sold, a slight growth of 1.84% compared to 2021. Thanks to a ‘mega final sprint’, BMW Motorrad is the market leader for the 13th year in a row.
Due to the last lockdown of the corona pandemic and the worldwide lack of raw materials and containers when economies returned to full swing, 2022 did not seem to be an easy year, but a small plus was nevertheless recorded.
While the European manufacturers saw a particularly difficult start to the year, because the factories could not run at full speed, the Japanese brands only had that problem in the second half of the year.
BMW seemed to have managed to break through BMW’s hegemony after 12 years, but at the last minute BMW still managed to become the market leader for the 13th year in succession.
Sales figures 2022:
| Brand | 2022 | part | 2021 | part | difference |
| BMW | 2,299 | 14.79% | 2,380 | 15.59% | -3.40% |
| YAMAHA | 2,247 | 14.45% | 2,305 | 15.10% | -2.52% |
| KAWASAKI | 1,884 | 12.12% | 2,045 | 13.39% | -7.87% |
| HONDA | 1,779 | 11.44% | 1,678 | 10.99% | 6.02% |
| KTM | 1,032 | 6.64% | 1,315 | 8.61% | -21.52% |
| SUZUKI | 1,024 | 6.59% | 905 | 5.93% | 13.15% |
| OTHER BRANDS | 918 | 5.90% | 595 | 3.90% | 54.29% |
| HARLEY DAVIDSON | 836 | 5.38% | 829 | 5.43% | 0.84% |
| TRIUMPH | 797 | 5.13% | 779 | 5.10% | 2.31% |
| PIAGGIO | 647 | 4.16% | 626 | 4.10% | 3.35% |
| DUCATI | 595 | 3.83% | 553 | 3.62% | 7.59% |
| ROYAL ENFIELD | 370 | 2.38% | 274 | 1.79% | 35.04% |
| APRILIA | 279 | 1.79% | 162 | 1.06% | 72.22% |
| MOTO GUZZI | 251 | 1.61% | 224 | 1.47% | 12.05% |
| HUSQVARNA | 191 | 1.23% | 212 | 1.39% | -9.91% |
| BENELLI | 147 | 0.95% | 127 | 0.83% | 15.75% |
| INDIAN MOTORCYCLE | 132 | 0.85% | 151 | 0.99% | -12.58% |
| ZERO | 120 | 0.77% | 107 | 0.70% | 12.15% |
| TOTAL | 15,548 | 100.00% | 15,267 | 100.00% | 1.84% |
BMW itself speaks of a ‘mega final print’, but the sales figures show that the market leadership has clearly been bought. According to figures from the RDC, BMW sold no less than 236 motorcycles in December and thus had a market share of 41.1% that month, while the market share measured over the entire year was ‘only’ 14.8%.
It therefore appears that BMW has quickly registered quite a few motorcycles in the last few days, which will be sold at a discount at the beginning of this year. This can also be deduced from the number of engines in the ‘Vehicle Industry’ category, or the dealer demos.
Of the 1,592 demos, 531 are BMW, or 33.3%. At 17 dealers, that is an average of 31 BMWs per dealer. At Kawasaki there are 194 out of 28 dealers (average 7 per dealer), at Yamaha there are 212 out of 27 dealers (average 8 per dealer).
It is also remarkable that BMW gets a large part of its sales from the business and lease market: 369 business and 367 lease. The vast majority is accounted for by only 2 models: the R 1250 GS and R 1250 RT, with the national government services (police, military police) as the largest customers.
Sale 2022 “purchase privately”:
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When we look at the only private purchase, the list suddenly looks very different. Then BMW falls back to fourth place with ‘only’ 1,032 units and Yamaha is the market leader with 1,749 engines, ahead of Honda (1,518) and Kawasaki (1,506).
What is also striking is that sales at BMW actually rest on one model: the R 1250 RT, of which 844 were sold in 2022. With 1,211 units, GS, together with the RT (which largely goes to government services), accounts for more than half of BMW’s sales.
In the top 25 best-selling motorcycles, we only see 1 BMW in 25th place: the S 1000 XR, of which 144 were sold, with Kawasaki and Yamaha each represented in the top 10 with 3 models.
Sales figures 2002, by model:
| Brand model | 2022 | 2021 | Difference | |
| 1 | BMW R 1250 GS/ADVENTURE | 844 | 966 | -12.63% |
| 2 | KAWASAKI Z900 | 518 | 516 | 0.39% |
| 3 | YAMAHA MT-07 | 389 | 426 | -8.69% |
| 4 | YAMAHA MT-09 | 338 | 281 | 20.28% |
| 5 | BMW R 1250 RT | 327 | 248 | 31.85% |
| 6 | KAWASAKI VERSYS 1000 | 263 | 220 | 19.55% |
| 7 | SUZUKI V STROM 650 | 262 | 267 | -1.87% |
| 8 | KAWASAKI Z650 | 249 | 337 | -26.11% |
| 9 | YAMAHA TRACER 900 | 233 | 301 | -22.59% |
| 10 | SUZUKI GSX-S 1000 | 224 | 71 | 215.49% |
| 11 | YAMAHA XT 700 TENERE | 223 | 315 | -29.21% |
| 12 | KAWASAKI VERSYS 650 | 221 | 285 | -22.46% |
| 13 | SUZUKI SV650 | 212 | 154 | 37.66% |
| 14 | KTM 1290 SUPER ADVENTURE R/S | 194 | 260 | -25.38% |
| 15 | HONDA CMX 500 REBEL | 186 | 170 | 9.41% |
| 16 | MOTO GUZZI V85TT | 174 | 153 | 13.73% |
| 17 | TRIUMPH TIGER 1200 | 167 | 24 | 595.83% |
| 18 | HARLEY DAVIDSON PAN AMERICA | 164 | 122 | 34.43% |
| 19 | HONDA CB 650 R | 161 | 182 | -11.54% |
| 20 | HONDA NC 750X | 160 | 334 | -52.10% |
| 21 | DUCATI MULTISTRADA V4 | 155 | 151 | 2.65% |
| 22 | YAMAHA TRACER 700 | 153 | 189 | -19.05% |
| 23 | SUZUKI V STROM 1050 | 146 | 208 | -29.81% |
| 24 | HONDA CRF 1100L | 145 | 119 | 21.85% |
| 25 | BMW S1000XR | 144 | 132 | 9.09% |
What is also striking in the above list is that two models have done exceptionally well: the Suzuki GSX-S1000 and Triumph Tiger 1200, with a growth of 215% and 595%. At least as remarkable are the numbers that Suzuki has put away from the SV650 (212) and V-Strom 650 (263), while both models have been around for a while. This proves that standing still does not necessarily mean going backwards. The V-Strom has thus even been the best-selling mid-range ‘Allroad’ in the past year.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.