With a striking growth rate, fast e-bikes are defying the declining overall market
According to the annual survey by the Swiss bicycle supplier association Velosuisse, 395,036 bicycles and e-bikes were delivered to the bicycle trade in Switzerland in 2023. This is around 100,000 fewer vehicles than in the coronavirus years 2020 to 2022, but still more than in 2019. Not all areas are affected by the decline: E-bikes45 increased again by 16.6 percent to 26`559 vehicles. Meanwhile, deliveries of low-speed e-bikes fell by a quarter and deliveries of bicycles by 16 percent. The number of bicycles thus grew to around five million, while the number of e-bikes rose to 1.25 million.
(SFVE) The momentum of the three previous years was interrupted in 2023. However, this came as no surprise to industry and economic experts. In 2022, consumer sentiment had already cooled considerably due to the war and interest rate hikes/inflation when the record number of 218730 e-bikes were delivered to the market, in some cases far too late. A beautiful spring of 2023, which could have eased the situation, failed to materialize. When summer arrived, it was so hot that the desire to ride a bike literally evaporated. So it is only logical that fewer bikes and e-bikes were sold in the previous year.
The various bicycle segments were affected differently. While sports bikes lost 5.8%, leisure and everyday bikes with equipment (mudguards, lights, pannier rack) fell by around a third. The picture was more uniform for e-bikes: both sports (-20.2%) and everyday e-bikes (-21.7%) lost around a fifth of their value. Only e-bikes45 were able to make repeated gains, which is also positive in terms of climate policy. S-pedelecs, which provide assistance up to 45 km/h, are primarily used by commuters replacing car journeys.
In contrast, sales of repairs in 2023 even slightly exceeded the previous year, as Daniel Schärer, Managing Director of 2Rad Schweiz, reports. However, he qualifies that work varied greatly depending on the company and brand. The same applies to sales, where significant losses were recorded in some cases. However, Schärer also notes that sales were still higher than in the pre-corona phase.
On our own behalf: The statistics have been simplified for 2023 by combining certain subcategories. The survey on different bike sizes has been removed. Instead, a distinction is now made between hardtail and fully. This means whether a mountain or e-bike only has suspension on the front wheel (this would be a hardtail) or on both wheels (fully), which is not only a comfort feature but also increases riding safety. The divisions have been retained to ensure comparability over the years. Sales of helmets (93,000 units) and bicycle trailers (10,000 units) were also surveyed for the first time.
March 19, 2024