Key markets remain positive despite sales decline 

GERMANY

German market defies negative consumer confidence

Bicycle production and sales in Germany attained very high levels in 2023, comparable to the bicycle boom in 2020. Despite the generally negative consumer climate, sales value of bicycles and e-bikes combined in Germany only slightly decreased by 4% from €7.36 billion in 2022 to €7.06 billion last year.

“The market is nowhere near a ‘catastrophic situation’ as predicted by many,” claims ZIV CEO Burkhard Stork. “Sales as we experienced in 2022 will turn out to be a record for a very long time so it is more than logical that the market volume decreased last year. In 2023 the volume decreased from 4.6 million to 4.0 million units.”

E-bike sales volume stable for 4 years

The biggest part of that decline came from regular bicycles which went down from 2.4 million units in 2022 to 1.9 million units last year. The e-bike market was rather stable at 2.1 million units last year from 2.2 million units in 2022. In the past 4 years, the market volume for e-bikes has been hovering between 2.0 and 2.2 million units although the average price hiked from €2,600 in 2020 to €2,950 last year. For the first time, the e-bike market share is bigger than regular bicycles. At 53% e-bikes are now the leading category. “The importance of e-bikes for the German market both in value and in volume will only get bigger in future,” said Burkhard Stork.

Stork forecasts a positive future for the bicycle. A record of 84 million bicycles and e-bikes are now on the road in Germany and from next year Germany will have more bicycles than inhabitants. According to ZIV, market saturation isn’t yet in sight, however. Despite the current economic situation, bicycles and e-bikes remain very popular among consumers.

Double digit production decrease

“E-bikes are driving the bicycle industry in almost all product categories,” said Burkhard Stork. With 2.3 million units produced in 2023, production was on a par with the 2020 boom year. If the contract manufacturing by German companies abroad is also taken into account, then the German bicycle industry produced a total of 3 million bicycles and e-bikes in 2023. Nevertheless, the production figures are less bright and shiny than in 2022 but still on a very high level. The production of bicycle and e-bikes combined decreased by 11% last year to 2.3 million units while the number of e-bike’s produced went down by 5.9% to 1.6 million units.

Read the full report with graphs on the Bike Europe website

NETHERLANDS

Bicycle market in the Netherlands slides down by 6% 

The Dutch market saw a slight decrease of 6% from 833,366 units in 2022 to 804,101 units last year. Thanks to a higher average retail price the revenue was down only 3.7% from 2022 to €1.4 billion in 2023. In the Netherlands, the e-bike generated 80% of the total turnover in the industry. On a total market value of €1.46 billion the e-bike accounts for a revenue of €1.17 billion.

E-bike sales stabilise

The total number of e-bikes decreased by 7% from 486,000 in 2022 to 453,219 last year in the Netherlands. Both in value and volume the market share of the e-bike remained the same in 2023. The average sales price of an e-bike and regular bicycle combined increased by 2.4% in 2023, from €1,772 in 2022 to €1,815 in 2023. The average price of an e-bike increased slightly more, by 3.4%. In 2023, the consumer paid an average of € 2,574 for an e-bike. Thanks to the dominant position of the e-bike one third of all new bicycles sold in the Netherlands have a price tag of more than €2,400.

In e-bikes, the category city bikes is leading in the Netherlands with a market share of 84% (380,704 units). The remaining 16% is split up between hybrid bikes, cargo bikes, road bikes, speed pedelecs and others. Based on the figures provide by the RAI association just over 9,000 e-cargobikes were sold in the Netherlands last year. Compared to other European markets this number is remarkably low and could even be questioned as this is not reflected in the streets where cargobikes take up more and more space.

Potential in the market

According to Huub Lamers, the interest in bicycles in general and e-bikes in particular remains. “We still see a lot of potential in the coming years in relation to commuting, because about half of the people employed don’t have access to any existing tax benefits. We continue to work for even better and more attractive lease schemes which have proven to be an efficient tool to encourage people to cycle to work.”

The IBDs still hold 76% of the market value, slightly up from 74% in 2022. “Several distributors have tried to find other distribution channels in the past but that turned out to be very difficult,” said Huub Lamers. However, the market performance growth of e-commerce was better than brick and mortar shops last year. According to the figures of the RAI association, 141,000 units were sold online last year, an increase of 4% compared with 2022. The average retail price of bicycles and e-bikes sold online increased by 6% to €1,537.

Read the full report with graphs on the Bike Europe website

France

French adopt cycling but e-bike sales stall

While sales of new bikes have come to a halt in France during 2023, it is clear that the French have adopted the bicycle as a mode of transport. This is the paradox revealed by the figures from the 2023 Cycle Observatory. In 2023, the total cycle market fell to €3.4 billion, a decrease of 5.5% compared to 2022. 2,231,000 bikes were sold, which represents a decrease of 14% compared to the previous year.

E-bike reaches 30% market share

The strong and sudden demand between 2020 and 2021 has run out of steam, and for the first time e-bike sales have fallen by 9%. Beyond volume, the share of e-bikes in value amounts to 61% of the market. It was 45% in 2019. The electric bike is now the best-selling means of electric transport in France: it represents 43% of electric vehicle sales. Under the double effect of the rise in road and gravel bikes and a further decline in children's bikes, the average price of a classic bike has reached €553. The average price of an e-bike remains stable at €1,967.

While cycling has increased, bicycle sales are slowing down in all market sectors, except for road bikes and gravel. This slowdown in demand created an effect of increased inventories among sellers, and by repercussion a drop in orders from French bicycle producers, whose production volume fell by 24% to 645,436 bikes in 2023.

Sales ‘run out of steam’

"There is a dichotomy between the use of bicycles, which is constantly increasing, and the sales of new bikes, which ran out of steam this year,” explained Jérôme Valentin, vice-president of the Union Sport & Cycle. Valentin expected a declining consumer market for new bicycles with significant stocks throughout the value chain for the coming months. Also the rental, local authority and reconditioning markets are growing strongly to the detriment of new bikes, especially for e-bikes.

Supported by purchase subsidies and substantial public investment, the modal shift towards cycling should gradually accelerate in the coming years. “The bicycle industry, for its part, has been entrusted with the launch of the Call for Projects promised by the public authorities in 2023 for an amount of €55 million. This is excellent news to allow the sector to revive its growth, significantly increase its added value in France by 2030 and reach a double-digit modal share at the same time,” concludes Valentin.