January 2026 L-Category (Scooters, Motorcycles & other light vehicles) New Vehicle Registrations
MCIA has today published the new vehicle registrations for the month of January 2026.
This includes Mopeds, Scooters, Motorcycles and other vehicles within the wider L-Category (L1 to L7).
The month of January closed with the expected market growth compared to the 2025 owing to the market distortion of the Euro 5 phase out at the end of 2024. The first month of 2026 witnessed a total market increase of 16.1% with the main segments of Motorcycles improving by +12.9% and Scooters by +26.1%.
Tony Campbell, CEO of MCIA, said: “It is encouraging to see the market bounce back after a challenging year in 2025 albeit we expected the year-on-year growth considering the large market distortions impacting the end of 2024 and early part of 2025. As an industry we are looking forward to a more positive and stable year in 2026 and hope the political turmoil we continue to witness eventually settles down and the government finally focusses on the country’s economic and business priorities.
MCIA welcomed the recent announcement to review rider licencing which was a direct result of a concerted cross industry lobby. Whilst this announcement and consultation is embedded into the recent Road Safety Strategy, we are urging Government to consider this review an opportunity to encourage access into the use of Powered Two, Three and Light 4-wheel vehicles as an integrated part of the wider transport strategy.
For many years, successive governments have targeted the riders as the “road safety problem” completely ignoring other road user behaviours toward Moped and Motorcycle users. It is now time to take a fresh look at the approach to road safety and ensure all new policies do not just follow the previous “well-trodden” path leading to no improvements in road casualties”
More details on the January 2026 registration figures can be found here.
Please credit MCIA when quoting this information.
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
MCIA is the body that represents the UK L-Category vehicle industry. L-Category vehicles can be defined as motorised lightweight scooters, motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles, typically with zero or low-emission power.
Within regulation they are defined as ‘L-Category’ vehicles (Regulation 168/2013) and are a great solution to the congestion and air quality challenges we all face. They are also sometimes referred to as powered light vehicles (PLV).
For more information about the work of MCIA and L-Category vehicles, or to interview MCIA’s CEO, Tony Campbell, please contact Siobhan Kirk at s.kirk@mcia.co.uk.