Sales are up in the EU! How will the US fare?

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L’Association des Constructeurs Européens de Motocycles (ACEM) just dropped an email in our inbox about the last nine months of sales in Europe.[1]

The text is reproduced here verbatim, because I think it contains some interesting data, and some useful information once we read through the lines.

New motorcycle registrations in five of the largest European markets (i.e. France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) reached 944.129 units during the first nine months of 2026. This represents a[n] increase of approximately +14,6% compared to the same period in 2025 (823.653 units). Motorcycle registration volumes increase in all the countries monitored by ACEM: Germany (173.947 units, +24.1%), Spain (221.236 units, +20,9% year-on-year), UK (84.114 units, +14,6%), Italy (313.095 units, +10,9%), and for France (151.737 units, +4,8%).

Moped registrations reached a total volume of 118.544 units in the six European moped markets monitored by ACEM (i.e. Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain). This registration volume represents a confirmed increase of +7% in comparison to last year at the same period (110.811 units). This progression is visible in all countries monitored by ACEM: Germany (14.881 units, +16,2%), Italy (12.613units, +14,8%), Belgium (22.521 units, +11,9%), Spain (10.315 units, +8,6%), Netherlands (20.084 units, +3,6%) and France (38.130 units +0,3%).

ACEM, 28 October 2026 [1][2]

Up is up, sales are sales, and no doubt the various sales teams are delighted with the accompanying bonuses. But the next statement made by Antonio Perlot, ACEM Secretary General, is telling:

The steady growth we have seen throughout the riding season shows the strong appeal of powered two-wheelers. At this point last year, the market appeared to be stabilising while now, looking at the long-term trend, motorcycle registrations, both conventional and electric, are well above the levels recorded for the same period since 2019. This is significant because it reflects a lasting interest from European consumers, who increasingly see motorcycles and mopeds as an answer to growing economic pressures and congestion in our cities, for daily mobility as much as for leisure.

To make the most of this potential, the sector needs policies that recognise the role of L-category vehicles in Europe’s mobility and support the innovation that drives it. […]

Antonio Perlot, ACEM Secretary General [1]

“Both conventional and electric”; “growing economic pressures and congestion”; and that last statement refers to L-category vehicles, and incorporates a call for help. (If like me you are continually hearing L-category used as a catch-all for scooters and mopeds, and not everything else on two wheels, I recommend looking at EU Regulation 168/2013 for clarity)[3]

Perlot is asking for European Governments to recognise that two wheels = good when it comes to reducing congestion and helping folks maintain an independent means of transportation in the face of skyrocketing fuel prices.[4] Cleaner air would be an additional bonus.

Nothing new there; sales drift towards smaller capacity scooters in troubled times out of necessity. Those six moped markets sustain huge sales precisely because there’s an existing culture of moped ownership and use that is driven largely by economic factors – and, in the case of those countries on the Med, the climate being friendlier to moped riders than in northern states. Belgium and the Netherlands, the second and third largest of those moped markets, are far from the Mediterranean; there, infrastructure and a culture of cycling and moped use both facilitate the use of powered two-wheelers. Belgian cycle paths are reserved for bicycles and the slowest class of moped; in the Netherlands, light mopeds generally ride on cycle paths and faster mopeds may use them too.[5][6] The Dutch make 28% of their journeys by bicycle.[7]

Hopefully the EU will listen; Perlot knows that the inherent uniformity of legislation across the continent could be an incredibly efficient way (pun intended) to make urban areas a little less congested and polluted, whilst sustaining the roughly 400,000 jobs that, according to ACEM, depend on the motorcycle, moped, tricycle and quadricycle industry in Europe.[8]

Sadly I suspect that the US will struggle to implement Federal legislation to support and encourage the sales of smaller capacity scooters and e-motorcycles because the exact opposite applies when it comes to legislation. Localized legislation at a county or statewide level seems to be the default solution at the moment, and our equivalents of L-category vehicles remain largely leisure tools procured for longer journeys rather than functional objects of convenience and economy.

In the US a motorcycle is a second, third or sometimes fourth mobility option in a household; many riders own more than one motorcycle. Rarely is a motorcycle an individual’s sole means of transportation.

The challenges the US faces are the same – congestion, gas prices, pollution – but as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the market here approaches transportation in a different way to Europe, not least because the ownership demographics here run much older than Europe. How can you encourage sales of 125cc scooters to teenagers when the entire industry is geared up to selling large capacity motorcycles to consumers that are predominantly male and aged 50?[9]

Unless something radical happens to trends in transportation ownership, I don’t see much changing any time soon. Perhaps all those kids on Rad Power bikes (the brand was sold in a court-approved asset sale in March and now belongs to Life EV)[10] will eschew cars in favor of Yamaha Zumas as they get a little older, and cities will be filled with people commuting to work on electric scooters and bikes like Honda’s WN7 (launched by Honda in Europe),[11] but I suspect we’re some distance from that.

If I was to wave my magic wand I would encourage legislators and campaigners to focus their efforts in the following areas:

  1. Tax breaks and rebates for anything with two wheels and an electric motor, at state and federal levels.[12] No tariffs or taxes on imports, but continue to federally regulate the form and function of the product and improve standards when required.[13] Mandate parking for two wheelers in car parks and on-street, in the same way we insist on disabled parking. By so doing, you remove almost every objection to ownership. Make motorcycles so cheap and convenient to use – and safe within all reasonable limitations – that buying one is a no brainer.
  2. Tax exemptions in every state on any motorcycle garment or accessory with a recognized safety rating. Helmets, boots, jackets, airbags; all of it. Tax free. Eliminate the bizarre anomaly that clothing is exempt but motorcycle garments are taxable. New Jersey I’m looking at you. And Massachusetts and New York and Minnesota. And Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20] And in California, Florida and Texas, clothing is taxable anyway, apart from annual back-to-school sales tax holidays in Florida and Texas.[21][22][23] Do I really need to carry on?
  3. Have a real stab at getting young people on two wheels: make MSF / CMSP training programs and their equivalents as cheap as possible or free, through funding provided by allocating funds accumulated from motor fuel excise taxes.[24] The Recreational Trails Program (RTP) receives about $84 million a year against FHWA’s own estimate of $281 million a year in fuel tax paid by off-highway recreation, and closing that $197 million gap would require Congress to change the existing law that fixes the RTP’s funding.[25][26][27] How about we compromise and put $100m into training new riders – and perhaps some of the untrained riders we all know are out there – to get more riders riding on roads and trails, which will in turn boost fuel tax income. Win win.
  4. Lastly – and I appreciate this one is controversial – institute sweeping Federal helmet reforms. The US has been slack on this since the 1990s,[28][13] and it’s time we took a long hard look at why there’s a reluctance to implement meaningful change across all states.[29] Even if the manufacturers and legislators just took the crass and insensitive view that dead riders don’t buy bikes or pay fuel tax, that would be a start.[30] Making motorcycling a less dangerous recreational activity would result in more people participating in the practice.

The continual panic around the quarterly sales cycle is understandable: the industry has to measure itself by some metric and quarterly sales numbers suit that need. But motorcycle ownership is getting more expensive, the riders are getting older,[9] dealerships are closing,[31][32] and on top of all of that there’s real justification for a discussion that needs to be had about an inherent diversity and access problem in motorcycling. The marketing departments aren’t going to solve this continual cultural and demographic contraction of our sport by pushing out new releases, new models, new finance packages.

We solve those issues by making riding safer, more accessible and more affordable. Time to step up.

Ride safe.

Tim

References

  1. ACEM (European Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers). “Registrations of motorcycles and mopeds in key European markets during the first nine months of 2026.” Press release, 28 October 2026. acem.eu
  2. ACEM. Statistical press release, January–September 2026 (PDF), 28 October 2026. acem.eu
  3. European Parliament and Council of the European Union. Regulation (EU) No 168/2013 of 15 January 2013 on the approval and market surveillance of two- or three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles. Official Journal of the European Union, L 60, 2 March 2013. eur-lex.europa.eu
  4. European Commission, Directorate-General for Energy. Weekly Oil Bulletin, prices with taxes, reference week 12 October 2026: EU weighted average Euro-super 95 €2.010/L (+24.4% year on year), diesel €2.136/L (+39.7% year on year). energy.ec.europa.eu; week-specific figures as republished under CC BY 4.0 by fuel-prices.eu
  5. Vias institute (Belgian road safety institute). Briefing: En groupe à vélo (a cycle path is the part of the public road reserved for bicycles and two-wheeled class A mopeds). vias.be
  6. Government of the Netherlands. Participating in Dutch Traffic, 9 February 2024. government.nl
  7. Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis (KiM), Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. Cycling facts 2023, January 2024. kimnet.nl
  8. ACEM. Organisation statement: “About 400.000 jobs depend on the motorcycle, moped, tricycle and quadricycle industry in Europe.” 28 June 2022. acem.eu
  9. Motorcycle Industry Council. 2018 Motorcycle Owner Survey press release, 4 February 2019, reproduced in full by Motorcycle.com. motorcycle.com
  10. Life Electric Vehicles Holdings, Inc. “Life EV Completes Rad Power Bikes Asset Acquisition.” Press release, 5 March 2026. radpowerbikes.com
  11. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. “Honda Announces New Electric Motorcycle ‘Honda WN7’ in Europe.” Press release, 16 September 2025. global.honda
  12. Internal Revenue Service. “IRC Section 30D(g) Qualified 2- or 3-Wheeled Plug-In Electric Drive Motor Vehicles.” irs.gov
  13. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Countermeasures That Work: Motorcycle Safety, “Legislation and Licensing.” nhtsa.gov
  14. New Jersey Division of Taxation. “Notice: Sales and Use Tax Exemption for Clothing under the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Law.” Revised 1 September 2006. nj.gov
  15. Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Directive 99-3, “Sales and Use Tax Treatment of Protective Clothing,” 26 February 1999. mass.gov
  16. New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Technical memorandum TSB-M-03(4)S. tax.ny.gov
  17. Minnesota Department of Revenue. “Clothing.” revenue.state.mn.us
  18. Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. 61 Pa. Code § 53.1, “Clothing.” law.cornell.edu
  19. Rhode Island Division of Taxation. 280-RICR-20-70-6, “Clothing, Clothing Accessories, Sports or Recreational Equipment, and Protective Equipment.” rules.sos.ri.gov
  20. Vermont Joint Fiscal Office. Tax Expenditure Report – Clothing Exemption, 21 January 2021. legislature.vermont.gov
  21. State of California. “Sales and Use Taxes – What Is Taxable?” taxes.ca.gov
  22. Florida Senate, Committee on Commerce and Tourism. Bill Analysis and Fiscal Impact Statement, SB 598 (Back-to-school Sales Tax Holiday), 12 February 2021. flsenate.gov
  23. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. “Texas Sales Tax Holiday is Aug. 9-11, Marks 25th Year.” Press release, 25 July 2024. comptroller.texas.gov
  24. 23 U.S.C. § 405, National priority safety programs, (a)(6) and (f): motorcyclist safety. govinfo.gov
  25. Federal Highway Administration. “Recreational Trails Program: Program Overview.” Revised 1 August 2025. fhwa.dot.gov
  26. Federal Highway Administration. Report to Congress on the estimate of nonhighway recreational fuel taxes, 2021. fhwa.dot.gov
  27. US Congress. RTP Full Funding Act of 2025, S. 811, 119th Congress. congress.gov
  28. Federal Highway Administration. National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-59), section-by-section analysis. fhwa.dot.gov
  29. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “Motorcycle helmet laws by state.” October 2026. iihs.org
  30. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Highway Loss Data Institute. Safety Solution: All-rider motorcycle helmet laws. iihs.org
  31. Harley-Davidson, Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal year 2024, Item 1 (570 US dealership points at 31 December 2024). sec.gov
  32. Harley-Davidson, Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, Item 1 (554 US dealership points at 31 December 2025). sec.gov

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