Bikes, the bonus effect deflates but e-bikes boost turnover

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After two years “inflated” by the effect of the bonus, bicycle sales are back to pre-Covid levels. In fact, 2022 ends with 1.7 million two-wheelers sold, more or less the same level as 2019, but with a 10% decrease on the previous year, when the threshold of two million units had been touched. The result is the result of a 15% drop in muscle bikes, down to 1.4 million, which is accompanied by a 14% growth in ebikes, albeit at decidedly lower levels, equal to 337 thousand pieces.

E-bikes drive sales value

Based on the data provided by Confindustria Ancma, the association that brings together two-wheeler manufacturers, the change in the composition of the market in favor of assisted pedaling, the price of which is decidedly higher than traditional two-wheelers, has allowed the same achieve an 18% growth in sales value. The volume of business achieved by specialized shops (which represent 68% of purchases), large-scale distribution and online sales has in fact reached 3.2 billion euros, a sum to which the effect of inflation also contributes but which however, it represents a leap of 52% compared to 2019, when it was just over two billion.

The market contraction is attributable, in Ancma’s analysis, to “a physiological slowdown”, the other side of the incentive coin. But also to the “complex global paradigm shift”, which has not spared the cycle sector: supply problems, cost increases, product shortages and uncertainties related to the geopolitical context.

Electric bikes are worth almost a fifth of the market

Ebikes now represent 19% of the total two-wheeler market, dominated by mountain bikes (29%) and city-trekking (26%). Also noteworthy is the doubling – albeit on small volumes, from 1,500 to 3,000 – of the sales of cargo bikes, a means of logistics and family transport which is a candidate for the replacement of the second family car. If we consider that in Germany this segment reaches 218,000 units sold, we can understand the growth potential of cargo.

The industrial performance also follows the market trend: the production of e-bikes rises by 10% with the growth of internal demand, while the production of muscle bikes marks a setback of 18% to 2.4 million. As far as the trade balance is concerned, the bike sector records a positive balance of 174 million (136 in 2021), but what is most worrying is the increase in the value of the import of components, in particular frames, which rises by 50%.