Swiss e-bike sales continue on record level
2017 was a good cycling year. 338`000 bicycles and pedelecs (excluding children's play bicycles) were sold in Switzerland. That is 4.2 per cent more than in the previous year. With almost 90`000 vehicles, e-bikes set a new sales record. The increase was 16.3 per cent.
(SFVE) Due to the beautiful and warm weather in spring, 2017 was an early indication of a good cycling year. Now the figures of the trade association velosuisse are available, which were collected from local importers, wholesalers and specialised markets. They show a total of around 338000 bicycles and e-bikes sold. Compared with the previous year, which was not so good from a meteorological point of view at the beginning, this represents a significant increase of 4.2 percent. Once again, the big winner is the e-bike, which had already achieved a substantial increase in sales of 14.1 percent between 2015 and 2016. This time the increase is even 16.3 percent. This corresponds to a new sales record of almost 90,000 units. In other words: every fourth bicycle sold in Switzerland already has an auxiliary electric drive - and the trend is rising.
The e-mountainbikes remain high-flyers, which for the second year in a row increased by more than a third to almost 29,000 units (+38.3%). Even in the niche markets, electric motors are apparently helping to give new impetus. Around 400 Cargobikes were sold last year. This is a welcome development, since in the conurbation, utility bikes usually replace a car. This growth impetus is likely to be driven not only by major advances in handling, design and technology, but also by promotional programmes such as carvelo2go.
Sports bikes are also in popular demand
Sales of pure muscle bikes in the sports segment (excluding lights, mudguards and luggage racks) rose by three percent for the first time after several years of decline. The growth is mainly attributable to children's and young people's bicycles in the 20 to 24-inch sizes including freestyle bikes, sales of which rose by a striking 22.7 percent. In mountain bikes, the two model groups with 26" and 27.5" wheels lost some ground (-7% and -2.3% respectively). In contrast, bikes with 29-inch wheels increased slightly (+3.9%). Sales of racing bikes remained stable, while sales of cross-country bikes decreased slightly (-2.1%). On the other hand, it is encouraging that safer disc brakes are also becoming increasingly popular in the racing bike segment. Almost 30 percent of new racing bikes no longer brake at the rim. The leisure and everyday segment (with lights, mudguards and luggage racks) is feeling the e-bike boom in different ways. The growth in city bikes with 28-inch wheels (+14.7%) could not make up for the declines in city bikes with 26 inches (-33%) and junior 20 to 24 inches (-35.7%). Sales of special bikes (tandems, cargo bikes, etc.) also fell significantly (-20.4%).
March 8th, 2018