Wildside Scooters
In The News

MMIC: two-wheel sales still climbing

Surrey Now
Published: Friday, March 20, 2009

Contrary to the general economic downturn, the Motorcycle Moped Industry Council (MMIC) reported that its motorcycle scooter sales numbers across Canada, year-to-date for October 2008 showed another eight per cent increase.

"The motorcycle industry is not immune to the economic downturn, but the resilience of the market this year reinforces the fact that motorcycles and scooters are more relevant than ever," stated Bob Ramsay, President of the MMIC.

"At the peak of the 2008 spring/summer selling season motorcycle and scooter retail sales were up almost 13 per cent over year-to-date sales in 2007. In fact, scooter sales alone year-to-date for June 2008 were up 22 per cent compared to 2007."

The high fuel costs coupled with the expense of fuelling larger gas guzzling vehicles forced people to start looking for alternate modes of transportation. The solution for a lot of them was and still is the purchase of a motorcycle or scooter because they are an efficient, low-cost transportation option that gets you where you need to go.

"But fuel consumption isn't the only economic driver, commuters in more populated areas such as cities and urban areas are frustrated with traffic jams," says Ramsay. "With increased sales, the upshot for the motorcycle and scooter industry is, Canadians are choosing two-wheel riding as part of the solution."

Not only is two-wheel riding fast becoming a solution in Canada but a 2008 owner survey conducted by the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) the MMIC's sister association in the USA, shows in its preliminary report that fun is still the number-one reason motorcyclists ride. But since the MIC's last survey in 2003, there has been a 42 per cent increase in the number of riders using their motorcycles for multiple purposes, including commuting. And, again according to this survey, 12.6 per cent of motorcyclists and scooterists riding in the U.S. are now women, a 29 per cent increase from 2003.

Canada's provinces and cities need to recognize that motorcycles and scooters can be part of an integrated approach to urban mobility planning. From a legislation point of view, motorcycles and scooters must be considered in all roadway planning, design, construction and maintenance.

Being proactive and leading the way with safe and accommodating new laws that allow motorcycles and scooters to reach their full potential, is a step in the right direction to creating more efficient and environmentally-friendly cities across Canada.

As the national non-profit trade association, originally founded in 1971, MMIC represents the responsible interests of major motorcycle and scooter manufacturers, as well as the distributors and retail outlets of motorcycle and scooter related products and services in Canada.

The MMIC member companies, through ongoing research and development continue to offer motorcycles and scooters that are cleaner and more fuel-efficient.

In fact, industry, working with government has, as of 2006, implemented more stringent emission standards for on-road motorcycles that align them with the stringent EPA standards of the United States.

For further information, check out the MMIC website at www.mmic.ca.

© Surrey Now 2009