We came across what we thought was an interesting statistic for the Italian motorcycle market from our guys at Motoblog.
it.
Take a wild guess at who the market leader for motorcycles in Italy might be….
Yes, that’s right, Honda.
In a market in crisis here, down 12 and 21.
4 percent, some eco-incentives in November just managed to save the day but Honda doesn’t seem too concerned.
So what’s the secret to their success?Despite skipping last year’s EICMA, Honda’s presence at the 2010 EICMA show proved what kind of a market leader it is.
It was back in force after a successful 2010 MotoGP season, presenting eight new bikes and two concept bikes.
While this won’t have affected November sales necessarily as we’re not all rushing out to buy Hondas after EICMA, it shows an attention to the European market that Yamaha, despite its star riders, doesn’t seem to be able to give off.
Honda has also continued promotional runs with discounts on final pricing on some of its more popular models and it seems the strategy is paying off.
Lose a few euros on each bike but sell a whole lot of them makes a lot of sense in what is a difficult market.
It seems also that Honda’s scooter range is incredibly popular in a market saturated with scooters and that is also spoiled for choice.
Leaving Piaggio, Vespa and other brands in its wake, of 53,000 Honda sales in Italy since January, 34,000 were scooter models with the SH300i leading the pack, followed by the 125 and 150 models.
Overall, Honda has a market share of 17.
85 percent in Italy, making it the number one motorcycle brand here.
While its scooter models are Japanese branded, Honda has also taken the intelligent step of building them here in Italy, at the Atessa plant.
Meaning that Italians feel like they’re almost buying an Italian scooter with the same build quality and feel-good sensation of supporting the local market.
Of Honda’s motorcycle models, the Hornet and Transalp models are the preferred ones for Italians, although in the motorcycle segment, Honda has to give way to BMW and Kawasaki first.
We’ll be interested to see if it plans on changing that and whether the new Honda Crossrunner model could be the one to do it.
Or whether when the BMW Concept C maxi-scooter production starts, if it will be the European brand to reign supreme on this continent.
Below are the top ten models in scooters and motorcycles for the Italian market, based on November sales, with relative sales numbers.
Scooters:001 HONDA ITALIA SH 300 Scooter 13.
639002 HONDA ITALIA SH 150 Scooter 10.
257003 PIAGGIO BEVERLY 300 TOURER Scooter 9.
906004 HONDA ITALIA SH 125 Scooter 9.
701005 YAMAHA XMAX 250 Scooter 9.
586006 YAMAHA TMAX 500 Scooter 8.
609007 PIAGGIO LIBERTY 125 RST Scooter 7.
258008 PIAGGIO VESPA GTS 300 SUPER Scooter 6.
873009 KYMCO AGILITY 125 R16 Scooter 6.
418010 PIAGGIO BEVERLY 300 Scooter 5.
926Motorcycles:001 BMW R 1200 GS Enduro 3.
925002 KAWASAKI Z 750 Naked 2.
930003 HONDA ITALIA CB 600 F HORNET Naked 2.
408004 BMW R 1200 GS ADVENTURE Enduro 2.
159005 DUCATI HYPERMOTARD 796 Supermotard 1.
816006 HONDA XL 700 V TRANSALP Enduro 1.
780007 BMW F 800 R Naked 1.
762008 YAMAHA XJ6-N Naked 1.
642009 BMW F 800 GS Enduro 1.
587010 KAWASAKI ER-6N Naked 1.
424