November 2025 Mobility & Consumption Minute: motorcycles decline, growth surprises

Two signals stand out in November 2025:

The motorcycle market is down 9%, with a sharp drop in used sales
French third-quarter growth beats expectations, but without household consumption

Mobility Minute: the motorcycle market is down 9%

With more than a million sales a year, motorcycles remain a volume market. But in 2024 the market fell 9% compared with 2023 : 100,000 fewer registrations.

The drop comes mainly from used bikes: down 11%, at 788,000 units, while new bikes hold up with 280,000 registrations and a decline limited to 1%.

Key takeaways

– more than a million motorcycles sold each year in France
– a market down 9% in 2024, or 100,000 fewer registrations
– used sales down 11%, at 788,000 units
– new sales hold up at 280,000 registrations, down only 1%
– three used motorcycles sold for every new one
– electric motorcycles account for around 5% of registrations

To understand why used sales are falling faster than new ones, and what the 5% electric share reveals about the pace of the two-wheeler transition:

👉 Read the full analysis on the Observatoire Cetelem

Discover the latest Auto 2026 study by the Cetelem Observatory

With this new 2026 edition, if we observe a worrying situation, we identify five levers that could create a healthy rebound in the automotive sector. An obligation, as the economic and social stakes are so high

Consumption Minute: French growth beats expectations

INSEE has published its third-quarter figures, and they are better than expected: growth of 0.5%, against the 0.3% economists had forecast.

In detail, output of goods and services rose 0.8% and business investment 0.9%. Household consumption, by contrast, managed only 0.1%.

Key takeaways

– growth of 0.5% in the third quarter, against 0.3% expected
– total output of goods and services: up 0.8%, against 0.3% in the previous quarter
– business investment: up 0.9%
– household consumption: up only 0.1%
– consumption of goods stable, consumption of services up 0.2%

To understand why French growth is beating expectations:

👉 Read the full analysis on the Observatoire Cetelem

Two markets, one shared household caution

On one side a motorcycle market in decline, on the other growth that advances without consumption.

Both tell the same story: businesses are investing and producing, while households are holding back on purchases. The fall in used motorcycles the entry-level market par excellence is a concrete signal of this.

Find the new 2026 Consumer Study from the Cetelem Observatory

As early as 2016, we were interested in seniors with a study entitled “Towards the golden age of the silver economy?”. At the time, we were far from suspecting that the decline in the birth rate would accelerate to such an extent and that the question of demographic ageing would be so acute 10 years later.

Find out about the latest Consumption study.