The garden machinery market continues to grow and marks, in the first quarter of 2019, + 29%, compared to the same period last year, and after a 2018 that had already closed on a positive note. The data presented by Comagarden / Morgan indicate a real boom in battery models.
TABLE
The increases are found for all types of vehicles, with percentages in some cases lower than the average, in other cases significantly higher: mowers mark an asset of 20.9%, chainsaws of 9.7%, brushcutters of 56%, 53.5% trimmers and 28.3% blowers. Bio-shredders (20.2%) and hedge trimmers (36.3%) are also on the rise, while sales of lawn tractors (+ 64%) and professional zero turnover are even higher (132.7%). ), Ride-ons for amateur use (52.1%).
The battery segment flies to + 90% compared to the first quarter of last year. In 2018 the battery-powered models had exceeded 80,000 units sold, with an average increase of 30%. In the first quarter of 2019 this product segment recorded an impressive overall growth, after the 26% increase already seen in the first quarter of 2018.
Among the categories that recorded the greatest pushes are the lawn mowers, which represent about 13% of the total battery products sold in Italy, with growth of 98% in 2018 and 52% in the first quarter of 2019; the trimmers who, with a share of 13% of the total, saw an increase of 62% in 2018 and 206% in the first quarter of 2019; leaf blowers / vacuums, whose sales cover 16% of the total, which grew by 31% in 2018 and saw a 177% increase in the first quarter of this year.
"Handling, ease of use, silence and eco-compatibility of battery-powered machines have convinced the market," explains Comagarden.
From a specific survey on sales within the large retail chains - carried out by GFK on behalf of Comagarden - it emerges that the growth of battery models is found in all the main European markets (France, Germany, United Kingdom, Holland, Belgium and Italy). Compared to the total of electrical products, battery-powered products have reached 60%, while those with power cables have fallen to 40% in 2018. While internal combustion machines, which still represent 56% of the total market, have seen declines constant over the past three years (-1.4% in 2016, -10.7% in 2017 and -5% in 2018), and the same electric cable models showed significant declines in 2017 (-9.9%) and in 2018 (-10.1%), battery-powered vehicles exhibited substantial increases over the three-year period, achieving an increase of 30.2% in 2018.
"The orientation towards electric and battery-powered engines in particular - commented President Novello - characterizes the entire motor movement, representing the most accredited option for the near future. Already today battery-powered engines (in particular with the hybrid system) have fully entered the automotive market, and important progress is being made with regard to agricultural vehicles, where some tractors and other types of vehicles are already equipped with battery motors ”.
"If the agricultural mechanics is working to overcome the power limits that still affect the development of the electrical - concluded Novello - we can say that in the" green "segment this technology already appears mature and as such is now recognized by the market.
Robotic mowers are also showing a remarkable development over the years. While representing 2% of the total market, this category has recorded constant growth since 2014, and in the five-year period 2014-2018 sales increased from just over 13,000 units to 22,160 units, with an increase of around 70%. The first quarter of this year confirmed the positive trend with an increase of 43%.
Among the reasons for the more than positive market trend in the first quarter of the year is undoubtedly the weather. "This surge in sales statistics - said the President of FederUnacoma Franco Novello - is due to the combination of two factors: the meteorological trend of the first quarter, characterized by a particularly mild climate and high temperatures which favored early flowering and the vegetative activity of the plants, making maintenance operations necessary and thus stimulating the demand for machinery; and the clear differentiation between the meteorological conditions of this year and those of the same period of 2018, characterized by an extension of the cold season and therefore by a significant decline in the demand for machinery ".
It appears particulate