With worldwide sales of more than 15-million motorcycles and ATVs, Honda Motor Co. says sales for 2008 were up 10.9 per cent over 2007 sales.
North American sales were down, however, with 391,000 units sold across the continent while 470,000 units moved last year.
Sales were down less severely in Europe, but in Asia, where many more bikes are sold, things were rosier. Honda sold 11,054,000 units in Asia, compared with 9,596,000 units in 2007, and in China, Honda moved 1,356,000 units, up from 1,166,000 units in 2007.
Figures from the Motorcycle and Moped Industry Council show total motorcycles sales in Canada were up in 2008, at 89,390, compared with 82,482 sales in 2007. The MMIC figures do not break down into separate manufacturers, however.
This from the MMIC:
For 2008 year, all categories had good to large gains with the street category gaining over 4,400
units, or a 9% increase over 2007. Dual purpose also increased by 7.5%. Mini bikes had a large
gain with an almost 100% increase over 2007, while scooters increased by 1,721 units, or plus
19.5%. Only competition and off-road rec bikes showed small decreases.
All provinces were in positive numbers for 2008 over 2007. Quebec showed the highest gain in
units with over 2,700 units, while BC and Ontario were next with over 1,100 units each. New-
foundland was noted for its nearly 17% increase, or 293 units over a total of 1,768 in 2007.
Overall, nationally, motorcycle sales were up by 6,908 units over 2007, or an 8.38% gain.
CMG readers are a bright lot: yes, we got the figures wrong. Blame it on news editor Steve T, who misread an MMIC report on scooter sales for the whole lot. Actual retail motorcycle sales in Canada last year were about 10 times the number stated. Humble apologies. All recommendations regarding punishment will be ignored.
No kidding. Based on these figures, Canada has less than 2% of Honda’s North American sales and less than .07% of Honda sales worldwide. Can these numbers provided be inaccurate?
Wow, only 10,551 sales for ALL manufacturers in Canada. No wonder they don’t really care about serving this market.
Honda doesn’t seem to get what people want . . . they seem to think they know what we want!!
We need a Jenney Craig version of the Valerado (better again a Dualie XR700FI or CRF450), a new improved Silverwing, and so on . . .
Oh yes, that new Big Red SxS is fine as a downsized JEEP but it won’t be going down many trails on the East Coast gicven its weight, width and minimal ground clearance.
And there are so many other European and Asian models that we simply can’t get here . . . take a chance and maybe the market will loosen up for them!
Honda lost me to Suzuki, a 2009 V-Strom 650 purchased in 2008. Because I was not buying the ridiculously overpriced Varadero, and Honda has not imported the XL700V TransAlp.