The combined market reports of European industry organisations clearly show that market growth has halted in most countries. The growth rate already slowed in 2023, while in most countries the 2025 market share was equal to that of 2024. In most countries, bicycle and e-bike sales declined in 2025, and the market lost momentum in units. When looking specifically at e-bikes, only Spain, Belgium, and the UK reported growth in sales volume in 2025.
50% volume is the maximum in some markets
An e-bike market share of just over 50% sales volume appears to be the highest currently achievable in some markets, such as Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria. The other key markets, including France, Italy, Switzerland and Spain, are lagging even further behind. In the UK, the e-bike market share has reached its peak at 9% for two consecutive years.
An overview of market data from 2022 to 2025 reveals a worrying picture. Virtually all indicators are in the red. The total e-bike market volume, market value, and average retail price are all in decline. Even the e-bike market share is no longer increasing, while the sales volume of regular bicycles is dropping even faster than that of e-bikes.
What are the numbers?
The differences between various countries are big. In France, Spain, and Italy, e-bike sales account for less than 30% of the total market share. The UK is closing the ranks in Europe with an e-bike market share of just 9%. Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland all recorded market shares of more than 40%. The Netherlands already reached its peak in 2022 at 53.5% and has since declined gradually to 49.3%. Even in Germany, where the market relies heavily on leasing, the e-bike market share declined from its 2024 peak of 53.8% to 52.6% last year.
To give you an idea of how the European e-bike and bicycle market has developed over the past four years, we dive a little deeper into the statistics for Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands combined. In those six core markets, the e-bike sales volume decreased by 4.9% from 3,798,534 units in 2022 to 3,611,730 last year. That is still relatively good compared with the market value, which dropped by 18.4% to €8.8 billion in 2025. This means the average retail price has also gone down, in contrast to the prevailing view that e-bikes are only getting more expensive. In 2025, the average retail price for an e-bike was €2,451, down from €2,855 in 2022.
Sharp decline in regular bicycle sales
The European e-bike market share could only remain stable at around 39%, while the regular bicycle market suffered the largest decline across all indicators. From 2022 to 2025, the total volume distributed dropped by 25%. Taking all these numbers into consideration, it is no wonder the industry is struggling to find a new balance after the COVID hype and the following inventory crisis.
Billions of investments have been burned by private equity and the industry itself through the expansion of production capacity. These strategic decisions were based on unrealistic extrapolations of market figures from the first year of the pandemic, when the market was at its peak. In the years before the pandemic, there was a lot of discussion about reshoring production, and it seemed this relocation was actually happening at the beginning of the decade. Nothing could be further from the truth, and production is already being scaled down again.
Reach out to a new audience
The cause of this growth stagnation is not yet clear, but market saturation could be the reason. Various incentives, such as subsidies and favourable leasing conditions, did give the e-bike market a boost in the past, but are no longer a guarantee of success. A side effect of leasing is the influx of high-quality, second-hand e-bikes. In some countries, used bikes are a new phenomenon that the market is still adapting to. What other options are available for the bicycle industry to grow e-bike sales? Innovations and connectivity features could spark replacement sales, but won’t incentivise first-time e-bike customers. To reach this ‘new’ audience and expand the total market requires a bigger effort than the industry has made so far.
Correlation between fuel prices and bicycle sales
The hike in fuel prices inflicted by the Iran-US since last February might have a positive impact on bicycle sales. Traditionally, a sharp increase in fuel prices has led to a rise in bicycle sales in markets with a well-developed urban cycling mobility segment. For example, during the oil crisis in the mid-1970s, or at the start of this century when oil prices spiked due to demand from emerging economies, and in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis in 2010-2012 when the economy had recovered and started to grow again.
The popularity of urban cycling has grown in many European cities over the past decade, facilitated in part due to investments in infrastructure. Therefore, city e-bike and bicycle sales should have increased substantially in the past three months due to the current fuel crisis. The half-year results of leading bicycle companies are eagerly awaited to show the expected sales growth. If these do not point to a significant increase in sales of urban bicycles, the industry should seriously consider whether its product still meets consumer expectations.
Proven low-cost option
European Cycling Industries (ECI) also highlights cycling as a proven, low-cost option amid rising fuel costs in its latest press statement on World Bicycle Day. “Cycling is the most cost-effective and energy-efficient transport mode available today, offering an immediate and scalable way to reduce Europe’s dependence on imported fossil fuels in everyday mobility,” writes ECI. “Each shift to bicycle represents a direct and immediate reduction in energy demand, without reliance on fuel imports, electricity generation, or complex energy supply chains.”
