While the overall motorcycle market fell by 8.7 per cent, dirtbikes did their bit to maintain sales.
Off-road bike sales accounted for 36.6 per cent of the market and provided the top sellers across the entire two-wheeled sector thanks to some perennial kids’ favourites. Line honours went to the Honda CRF50F (2159), followed by the Yamaha PW50 (1953) and Yamaha TTR50E (1715). Of the top-10 selling motorcycles last year, eight were dirtbikes.
In the enduro category, victory for the WR450F was uncertain after it relinquished top spot to the 300EXC fuel-injected two-stroke at three-quarter time by just one bike. But the WR450F rallied in the final quarter and pulled ahead. Despite the popular Yammy topping the charts, it experienced a 15% drop in sales while the ground-breaking, fuel-injected 300EXC had a 72.5% increase compared to 2017.
Of the top-10 enduros five were KTMs, three were Yamahas and one was a Husqvarna, with the all-new CRF450L scrapping into tenth with 258 sales despite being released late in the year and not really being an enduro bike. KTM took the lion’s share of sales in the category with its 300EXC (1052), 500EXC-F (746), 350EXC-F (620), 450EXC-F (400) and 250EXC (276) accounting for 3094 sales. This trumps Yamaha’s total inside the top-10 of 1824 units with the WR450F (1136), WR250F (382) and WR250R (306).
In motocross it was a Blu wash, with the Yamaha YZ250F taking number one position and the YZ450F holding down second with 797 and 768 units, respectively. Honda’s CRF450R was the only other model close to the Yamahas with 736. There is a considerable jump back to the CRF250R (587) and Kawasaki KX450F (512).
The Suzuki DR650 jumped back to the top of the Adventure Touring pile, relegating the upgraded Honda Africa Twin to second position by just one sale. The Honda sold 573 units versus the Suzuki’s 574, but that’s a 24% drop for the Honda versus a 17.6% jump for the Suzuki.
