"tapzz" (tapzz)
09/17/2013 at 07:47 • Filed to: Europe, Autodämmerung
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"tapzz" (tapzz)
09/17/2013 at 07:47 • Filed to: Europe, Autodämmerung | 0
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In all but 4 for of 23 European markets bicycles outsold cars, with the UK ahead at 1.3 million more new bikes sold than cars.
The main reason: car sales are dropping by 5% to the lowest level since recording began in 1990. The UK, funnily enough, is the only one with a healthy plus.
Are these the harbingers of an Autodämmerung in the old continent?
Source: European Automobile Manufacturers' Association and Coliped in !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
GhostZ
> tapzz
09/17/2013 at 08:17 |
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Is it common to own more than one bike over there?
duurtlang
> GhostZ
09/17/2013 at 08:24 |
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'Over there' is way to broad for the entire continent, but in the Netherlands the answer is yes. There are more bicycles than people here. I own multiple bikes myself; a nice three speed citybike and a similar beater for train station and drunken nights service. I'm eyeing a racing cycle as well.
Unlike many other areas we don't have mountains or serious hills yet we do have excellent bicycle infrastructure. So that helps.
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tapzz
> duurtlang
09/17/2013 at 08:39 |
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Denmark would be similar to the Netherlands, as are parts of Northern Germany. Having multiple bikes would be a lot rarer, but not unheard of, in other parts of Europe.
Casper
> tapzz
09/17/2013 at 10:30 |
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I'm confused about the value of these statistics. So are they saying those who purchased bicycles do not also have a car or replaced their previous car with a bicycle? How do they get this data? In most countries people do not buy a bicycle to be their sole means of transportation in place of an automobile/motorbike should they have the means to purchase the latter.
Of course something that costs a fraction the value and takes no special means to store will out pace the sales of something the reverse should there be demand. This seems a bit like saying shoes have out paced automobile sales, thus, these people are walking rather than driving. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Lime - Light
> Casper
09/17/2013 at 10:47 |
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Came here to say that. This is a useless statistic.
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tapzz
> Casper
09/17/2013 at 11:15 |
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The value of the statistics lies in the fact that they indicate that bicycle use in Europe - as indicated by new bike sales - is on a long term increasing trend that is - if anything - not affected by the recession. By contrast, car use - measured by the same broad indicator - is static long term, but was so badly hit by the recession that bike sales have now overtaken car sales in Europe as a whole. That seems novel, and, indeed, is not universal- in markets such as Belgium and Ireland, new cars still outsell bikes.
The data are from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association and their counterpart for bicycles, Coliped. The raw stats are available from the Guardian article.
Concluding that bicycles are outright replacing cars isn't warranted by these statistics, and I don't believe I or my sources claimed such a thing.
Jimmeney
> tapzz
09/17/2013 at 11:26 |
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In the UK apparently bike sales have been up because we've has several high profile wins in sport for cycling over the past 18 months, and we've had a summer that wasn't totally miserable for once.
I've also noticed more 'appliance car' hire purchase deals on cars being for 4 / 5 years than the usual 3 years - that's got to affect new car sales.
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Casper
> tapzz
09/17/2013 at 11:35 |
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No, but the sources are correlating unrelated data for a reason not directly referenced. Of course the purchase rate of significantly cheaper products are less affected by the recession in areas they are demanded, but comparing two implies either a correlation or competition of values. Why else use them comparatively?
There is nothing of value to be gained in the current structure. It would have been more valuable to simply have isolated to product groups and indicated the growth or decline of rates based on geography and socioeconomic development of the regions. At least it would have provided some comparator of product market growth/shrinkage in relation to local economic factors.