CFMOTO 450MT Sales Fall: Is this a sign of the times?
- Mathieu Day-Gillett
- Apr 25
- 3 min read
Have Kiwis gotten over the CFMOTO 450MT? Recent MIA figures show a dramatic drop in monthly registrations of New Zealand's current favourite motorcycle.
CFMOTO’s 450MT is currently all the rage in the USA, where it has just landed. However, after nearly a year in the New Zealand market, it looks like Kiwis' love affair with the 450MT might be starting to wear off.
First, I’m not here to go all negative on the 450MT / IBEX 450. For its price point in the twin-cylinder adventure class, I think it is an unbeatable deal for riders wanting a competent multi-cylinder adventure bike on a budget. While you can certainly find more capable off-road bikes, the 450MT occupies a unique position thanks to its twin-cylinder engine, 21-inch front wheel, and really well thought-out chassis.
But sales figures don’t lie, and after nearly a year as New Zealand’s favourite motorcycle, it looks like we might have finally hit market saturation here with a noticeable drop in sales recently.
In 2024, the CFMOTO 450MT was the top-selling motorcycle in New Zealand by a long way. With 258 sales on the books according to the Motor Industry Association, it outperformed every other bike on the market and almost single-handedly pushed CFMOTO’s overall market share up to 6%. To somewhat put things in perspective, the next best-selling CFMOTO was the 450SR with 58 registrations in 2024.
It even outperformed its nearest rival comfortably, with only 153 units of the Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 hitting the road.
Now, fast-forward to the end of Q1 of 2025, and we’ve seen sales in March drop to nearly half of what they were in February, with just 29 bikes registered in March compared to the 66 registrations in February. That is a 56% drop in monthly sales following a strong start to the year (the 450MT saw 77 registrations in January).
This could be a sign that the small New Zealand market has hit saturation with the 450MT now comfortably satiating demand for the small-bore adventure class, but there could be a lot of factors into why this is the case.
The first is my main point here: there are just so many 450MTs now on the road in little ol’ NZ that we’ve hit market saturation, and as a result, we’ll see the 450MT sell in far smaller numbers than previously going forward. From my understanding, this is what usually happens when a hot new bike arrives in market, though the CFMOTO has outperformed most industry expectations with just how long the wave has been. We'll know for sure when figures for April's registrations are released by the MIA.
Another cause of the sudden decline could be the state of the economy. I’m no financial expert, but with global markets being incredibly volatile at the moment due to what they’re calling a trade war between the USA and China. To drastically oversimplify things, I think the situation will be making people think twice about buying a Chinese motorcycle due to the rhetoric coming from the US.
There could be one other reason why sales are dropping off, and that could be that the shine has finally worn off the 450MT. At the end of the day, the 450MT is an adventure bike, not an enduro, yet people seem hell bent on taking them on incredibly tough rides and expecting them to perform as such. I know of a handful of owners who have sold their 450MTs to purchase a plated enduro that is less of a handful off-road but can manage the highway if the need arises. At the end of the day, the 450MT is still a 200-kilo machine and as amazing as its setup is, it’ll never be an enduro.
With that said, it is still the closest bike we have to that mythical adventure unicorn, so its days are far from numbered yet.
