The number of bicycles sold in Germany grew by 1 percent in volume last year to a total of 4.05 million units, mainly due to the continuously growing demand for e-bikes and for high-quality products, said the German bike manufacturers' association, ZIV, at the opening of the VELO Berlin consumer bike show last week. The average retail price for bikes, including e-bikes, rose by 7.6 percent to €495, compared to the previous business year.
Independent bike dealers kept their market share of 69 percent. While internet sales rose from 6 to 8 percent of the market compared with 2010, the share taken by department and hardware stores fell from 25 to 23 percent.
ZIV expects 400,000 e-bikes to be sold in Germany and 1.1 million in Europe in 2012. The number of e-bikes sold in Germany grew from 200,000 in 2010 to 310,000 in 2011, accounting for 8 percent of the total volume. In Europe, about 900,000 e-bikes were sold in 2011, up from 700,000 in 2010. Germany and the Netherlands accounted for 50 percent of the total amount of e-bikes sold in Europe.
The production of bicycles in Germany grew by 2.6 percent to 2.29 million units, with exports up by 6 percent to 1.08 million units, and the Netherlands was the biggest foreign market, followed by France.
Imports into Germany grew by 5.1 percent to 2.84 million units, but fewer bicycles were brought in from Asia, due apparently to increasing quality awareness on the part of consumers and difficulties with the on-time delivery of orders. Taiwan remained the biggest source, but imports from that country fell to 12 percent of all the imported units from 14 percent in 2010. Imports from Thailand went down, too. Imports from European countries made up 52.8 percent of all imports, with the Netherlands accounting for 10 percent of the volume, followed by Poland and Lithuania, each with a share of 9 percent.
