BMW R1250GS is still the king, the Africa Twin comes in second position
BMW has sold 21,022 units of the GS models in Germany and Italy combined, in 2019, the Africa Twin CRF1000L put Honda in the second position, with 5,856 units. A nice surprise comes from Moto Guzzi V85TT – 2,015 units in the debut year is very good – more than the KTM 1290 Super Adventure, and 790 Adventure.
According to moto.it, BMW is the leader in the adventure motorcycle segment when it comes to sales for 2019 in Germany and Italy.
Although models such as the Versys 1000 or Ducati Multistrada 1260 (excepting "Enduro") are not quite adventurous, we kept them in the chart to get a more complete view over the market.
Brand & model | Total sales |
BMW R1250GS/R1250GS Adventure | 15,879 |
Honda Africa Twin CRF1000L | 5,856 |
BMW F 750 GS | 2,473 |
Suzuki V-Strom 650 | 2,117 |
Moto Guzzi V85 TT | 2,015 |
BMW F 850 GS | 1,929 |
Ducati Multistrada 1260 | 1,904 |
KTM 1290 Super Adventure | 1,625 |
KTM 790 Adventure | 1,529 |
Yamaha Ténéré 700 | 1,353 |
Suzuki V-Strom 1000 | 1,213 |
Kawasaki Versys 1000 | 1,190 |
BMW R 1200 GS | 741 |
Even if the podium is the same, looking at each market, we can see some different choices when it comes to adventure models. The Africa Twin still has a lot of catching up to do if it wants to steal the number one spot on the Italian adventure motorcycle market. BMW has three models from the GS family in the first four places while the Italiens prefer to ride more of their own brands like Ducati and Moto Guzzi.
Position | Brand & model | Germany 2019 | Italy 2019 |
1 | BMW R 1250 GS/R 1250 GS Adventure | 9,417 | 6,462 |
2 | Honda Africa Twin CRF1000L | 2,428 | 3,428 |
3 | BMW F 750 GS | 1,601 | 872 |
4 | BMW F 850 GS | 1,060 | 869 |
5 | KTM 790 Adventure | 1,042 | 487 |
6 | KTM 1290 Super Adventure | 1,020 | 605 |
7 | Suzuki V-Strom 650 | 927 | 1,190 |
8 | Moto Guzzi V85 TT | 812 | 1,203 |
9 | Yamaha Ténéré 700 | 774 | 579 |
10 | Kawasaki Versys 1000 | 710 | 480 |
11 | Ducati Multistrada 1260 | 672 | 1,232 |
12 | Suzuki V-Strom 1000 | 671 | 542 |
13 | BMW R 1200 GS | 664 | 77 |
The German adventure motorcycle market reached 21,798 units compared to Italy’s 18,026.
For 2020, Honda unveiled the Africa Twin Adventure Sports. So, the Japanese brand could cut a part of the market from the BMW R1250GS. Another update for next year is the new Suzuki V-Strom 1050 which will be interesting to see how it will impact the adventure market.