MOTORCYCLE and quad bike sales stalled in the first quarter of the year following record sales last year.
Sales figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries show 26,241 motorcycles, scooters and quad bikes or all-terrain vehicles sold for the period to end of March, which is a 15.5 per cent drop on the same quarter last year.The sales figures reveal 3807 ATVs were sold for the first three months of 2009, a decline of 13.2 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2008.
Road bikes accounted for 10,794 sales, a 6.8 per cent drop and off-road bike sales fell 19.6 per cent to 8644.
Overall ATV sales were led by Yamaha with 1085 quad bikes sold, then Honda with 843 and Polaris with 633.
However, Polaris and BRP Australia were the only suppliers to record growth for the quarter compared with last year.
The Polaris figure of 633 represents sales growth of 6.4 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2009 while BRP Australia sold 314 quad bikes, up 36.5 per cent on last year's first quarter.
In terms of quad bike models, the Polaris Hawkeye was the most popular model, with 171 bikes sold for the first quarter, well up on the 2008 figure of 52 bikes.
The Yamaha YFM90 was the next most popular quad bike with 168 sales and then Honda's TRX420TM was in third place with 167 sales.
Honda's TRX quads filled the next three spots and the Polaris Sportsman 500 was seventh with 128 sales.
Peter Alexander, managing director of Polaris Australia said the first quarter result was promising.
"Last year was our biggest year on record, so to put another 6 per cent on top of a record year at a time when the market is contracting is an incredible result," Peter said.
"This has culminated in the biggest first quarter in our history, along with our highest quarterly market share ever."
