ATV and SSV sales booming

After a few slow months, motorcycle sales have started to pick up again, with the ATV and SSV (side-by-side vehicle) segment leading the way with a 50.4 per cent spike YOY.

According to the FCAI’s vehicle sales report for the first half of 2020, a total of 52,838 vehicles were sold from January to June 2020, in comparison to 42,457 during the same period in 2019.

The ATV and SSV segment recorded a total of 14,545 sales compared to 9,638 sales in the first half of 2019.  This comes as a number of manufacturers including Polaris, Honda and Suzuki announced their withdrawal from the ATV market as early as October this year.

Off-road motorcycles also reported an increase of 42.4 per cent on the same period last year.

FCAI chief executive, Tony Weber, said the popularity of these segments could be a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People can’t go for overseas holidays, and for quite some time, they couldn’t even go for holidays within Australia,” he said.

“So, we believe that, instead of spending up big on expensive family vacations, people are treating themselves in different ways – and this could mean they are taking up new sports like trail bike riding.

“ATVs and SSVs are also popular, and we understand this is due to the Government’s instant asset write-off program which makes the purchase of farm machinery and equipment very attractive at the present time.”

With the generous instant asset write-off scheme extended to end of the year, its is likely that sales in the ATV and SSV segment will remain strong throughout the year.

However, the road bike and scooter segments did not enjoy the same increase in popularity as the other categories.  Road bikes reported 15,243 sales during the first half, down 2.7 per cent on the same period last year.  Scooters recorded 2,166 sales, down 12.8 per cent, for the first half of 2020.