THE UK is leading a surge in motorcycle sales across Europe, with 16.1% growth in a year compared to 0.6% across the continent.

Europe’s motorcycle market grew by 0.6% over the first two months of 2015, with 83,760 sales compared to 83,300 in the same period last year. The UK alone accounted for nearly 10% of those sales, with 8,000 new registrations, an increase of 16.1%.

While other countries like France, Germany, Spain and Italy all saw a greater overall number of new bike registrations, none grew as fast. France saw sales drop by 5.1% to 17,760, while Germany’s motorcycle registrations declined 13% to 11,450.

Figures for moped sales weren’t so rosy, with a decrease of 11.04% across Europe during January and February, dragging the overall powered two-wheeler market down to a 3% year-on-year decline. In the UK, moped sales dropped 14.9%, but they make up such a small part of the overall market that combined powered two-wheeler sales were still up by 11.5% to a total of 9,015 new registrations. In comparison, Germany’s moped sales were down 26.2%, Italy’s dropped by 17.5% and France declined by 10.5%.

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