E-bike sales help stabilise German market

At two million units, the German e-bike market held steady in 2025, after the volatile market during pandemic years. The sales volume has been around this level since 2023. The same goes for mechanical bicycles, whose sales volume has remained steady over the past three years at just under two million units. To grow the market, the industry should therefore focus on increasing the average retail price, but that continued to decline in 2025. No wonder the industry organisations emphasised the growing popularity of bike leasing and refurbishing at their joint presentation of the 2025 market results.

“Despite a challenging environment, the industry held steady and stabilised at a good level,” said Burkhard Stork, CEO of the industry association ZIV. Together with the dealer organisation VSF and Zukunft Fahrrad, they expressed cautious optimism about the market developments: though 2025 also brought challenges, the bicycle industry once again demonstrated strength and resilience.”

E-bike market share

In 2025, bicycle production rose 3% to 658,000 units, while e-bike production dropped 3% to 1,285,000 units. Retail turnover of bicycles and e-bikes combined fell 7.7% to €5.85 billion — a slight improvement, as the market still shrank by more than 10% in 2024.

The levelling off of e-bikes, with a market share of just over 50%, is very disappointing. Earlier, industry insiders, and Bosch eBike Systems in particular, predicted a much higher market share of e-bikes in future. Percentages of 60% or 70% were often mentioned, with the disclaimer that no one knew where e-bike growth would end.

Inventory reduced, but still too high

According to the ZIV figures, the average retail price for e-bikes dropped slightly, while the price for mechanical bicycles remained stable. Though heavy discounting continues to put pressure on revenues, the consistently high demand for racing bikes and gravel bikes ensured some stability in the market.

“The 2025 figures show that the bicycle industry is levelling off at a stable level,” said Burkhard Stork during the presentation of the 2025 market statistics. It is noteworthy that demand is less sensitive to economic fluctuations than is often assumed. The market mix is shifting slightly. The market share of mechanical bicycles is currently increasing.”

Leasing future growth potentials

The annual study by Deloitte and Zukunft Fahrrad shows that for the second year in a row, total sales in the company bike leasing segment were slightly lower than in the previous year at €2.8 billion.

The study shows that company bike leasing schemes are enjoying increasing popularity. The proportion of employees participating in a leasing scheme increased from 8% in 2024 to 11% last year. According to Zukunft Fahrrad, leasing still offers big potential for the industry.

To read the full German market report, click here.