12 July 2021, Brussels – Today, CONEBI the Confederation of the European Bicycle, E-Bike, Parts & Accessories Industries, released its much anticipated 2021 European Bicycle Industry and Market Profile Report. Latest data reveals that sales shot-up a whopping 40% to a 20-year high of EUR 18.3 billion or 22 million units sold (bikes & e-bikes) across the EU twenty-seven and UK during the course of 2020.
Spurred on by booming consumer demand, investments in cycling infrastructure and political commitments to a transition to the Green Economy, the EU-UK industries continue their upward spiral year-on-year, with 2020 being the best year since we started analysing data” explains Erhard Büchel, CONEBI President, adding: “Investments/innovation topped EUR 1.5 billion, up from EUR 1 billion in 2019. This has fuelled unprecedented production growth across Europe”.
“E-Bikes are fast becoming consumers’ preferred choice,” points out Manuel Marsilio, CONEBI General Manager. “European citizens are selecting greener e-mobility options over buying cars or using public transport, which resulted in E-Bikes enjoying a staggering 52% increase in sales. E-Bike sales leapt to EUR 10.6 billion in 2020,” he highlights.
‘’Production of parts and accessories in Europe also spiked in 2020, reaching EUR 3 billion, which highlights the positive impact on the whole production value-chain. Nevertheless, the current situation in the global supply chain is an important signal: we need to invest more in local production; we need to invest more in Europe. Based on current projections, we expect the value of the parts and accessories produced in Europe to double to EUR 6 billion by 2025,” outlines Büchel.
A suite of new national policies focused on cycling infrastructure, driven by changes in consumer behaviour, has meant more good news for European bicycle manufacturers: 3.6 of the 4.5 million e-bikes sold in the EU/UK were manufactured in region. This equated to 80% of all products sold in EU/UK, also being produced here.
The outstanding performance by the bicycle, e-bike, parts and accessories sectors also boosted jobs, with a solid 30% increase in employment across the sector reported.
“Today, we have over 1,000 healthy sustainable manufacturing SMEs in Europe, which provide 155,000 direct/indirect green manufacturing jobs,” emphasises Marsilio. “Taking into account bicycle tourism, cycling services such as cycle-logistics and bike-sharing, and the retail sector, more than 850,000 green jobs are supported by our industry,” he points out.
With a growing number of companies reinforcing their EU/UK investments by reshoring production to the EU/UK, each 1,000 bicycles re-shored/produced each year in Europe, creates three to five skilled jobs. And, for each 1,000 E-Bikes that are re-shored/produced in the region each year, between six and nine skilled jobs are generated.
“Our sector brings tangible value to the European Economy in terms of jobs, investment, entrepreneurship and innovation. Plus, our environmental footprint is a net positive when it comes to the Green Economy. Local production in EU/UK results in a reduction exceeding 2-million tons of Co2 emissions per year,” concludes Marsilio.
For further information or to purchase a copy of the 2020 European Bicycle Industry and Market Profile Report, please contact: Anna-Lena Scherer via anna-lena.scherer@conebi.eu and Manuel Marsilio: manuel.marsilio@conebi.eu
