ACEM data: European motorcycle registrations up 14.6% to 9,44,129 units in January to September 2026

Europe's motorcycle market is having its best run in years, and that matters in Chennai, Pune and Hosur more than it used to.

On 28 October, ACEM, the European motorcycle industry body, published registration data for January to September 2026. New motorcycle registrations in the five largest European markets, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, reached 944,129 units in the first nine months, an increase of about 14.6 per cent over the 823,653 units in the same period of 2025. ACEM says volumes are well above the levels recorded for the same period since 2019.

Italy is still the biggest single market, at 313,095 units, up 10.9 per cent. Spain follows with 221,236 units, up 20.9 per cent. Germany is the fastest grower of the five at 173,947 units, up 24.1 per cent. France managed 151,737 units, up 4.8 per cent, and the UK 84,114 units, up 14.6 per cent.

Mopeds, the 50cc class that barely exists in India, are growing more slowly. Registrations across the six moped markets ACEM tracks, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, came to 118,544 units, up 7 per cent from 110,811 a year earlier. France is the largest moped market at 38,130 units, but it grew just 0.3 per cent. Germany was up 16.2 per cent at 14,881 units and Italy up 14.8 per cent at 12,613 units.

Why an Indian reader should care

Because India's two-wheeler makers are now selling into these numbers. Export volumes have become the growth engine while the domestic entry-level commuter market stays flat.

Bajaj Auto's Q2 FY27 results, announced on 27 October, show it plainly. Total export billings were 778,528 units, up 40 per cent year on year, with two-wheeler exports at 676,545 units, up 43.21 per cent. Domestic two-wheeler sales in the same quarter were 607,416 units, up only 1.82 per cent. Bajaj now ships more two-wheelers out of India than it sells inside it. Standalone revenue crossed ₹20,000 crore for the first time at ₹20,003.43 crore, and net profit rose 35 per cent to ₹3,353.76 crore.

Africa and Latin America carry most of that export volume, not Europe. But Europe is where the margin sits, and where the 300cc to 700cc bikes built in India have to compete on equal terms with Japanese and European machines.

TVS is chasing Italy hard

TVS Motor said on 26 October that it will return to EICMA in Milan on 3 November with new models for Europe, a year after its debut at the show. The company says its Italian sales have grown 110 per cent over the past year, against roughly 10 per cent growth for the Italian market overall. It now has around 100 dealers in Italy, 25 across Spain and Portugal, and products on sale in Malta, with France and Germany dealerships due soon and Hungary, Greece and Serbia planned.

TVS also said Peyman Kargar, currently President of International Business, becomes Director and Chief Executive Officer with effect from 27 January 2027, which tells you where the company thinks its next decade of volume comes from.

For buyers here, the practical effect is that bikes like the Apache, the Pulsar and the Royal Enfield 650s are now developed with European emissions and homologation rules in mind from day one. That pushes up content and cost on Indian versions, and it also means Indian riders get features that used to arrive two model cycles late. The nine-month European numbers are the reason the investment keeps coming.

Sources

• ACEM: Registrations of motorcycles and mopeds in key European markets during the first nine months of 2026
• Autocar Professional: Bajaj Auto Q2 net profit rises 35 percent to Rs 3,354 crore as revenue crosses Rs 20,000 crore
• Autocar Professional: TVS Motor to showcase new models at EICMA as Europe expansion continues