Triumph holds on to pole position as top selling UK superbike brand

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/feb/06/triumph-highest-selling-uk-superbike

Version 0 of 1.

Triumph motorcycles has maintained its lead as the biggest seller of superbikes in the UK, according to latest figures.

Nearly one-in-five of all UK sales of bikes with engines over 500cc are Triumph bikes.

The company, owned by John Bloor and chaired by former CBI boss Lord Digby Jones, makes around 50,000 bikes a year at its Hinckley factory, including the Bonneville and Thruxton models. It has increased its research and development pot by 10% to £24m.

Latest figures by MCIA, the bike industry trade body, said Triumph had a 19.4% market share in an industry which has suffered in the past few years. In 2008 1.25m motorcycles were sold worldwide, but this dropped to just 690,000 by 2012. In the UK, 3,699 new vehicles were registered last December, a fall of 6.5% compared with a year earlier.

However, Triumph has managed to double its worldwide market share since 2007, growing from 2.3% to 5.7%. The company also expanded into 13 new countries, bringing the total to 52, and 85% of the bikes made are exported, according to the business.