The bicycle is slowly but surely outstripping the car. Almost every country currently sells more bikes than cars. This is also becoming more and more common in the sworn car driver nations such as Italy and Spain.
The car market is stagnating, bicycles are being sold in droves. More two-wheelers than cars are now being sold across Europe. The US radio station NPR announced that the bicycle market in Spain is currently larger than that for cars. While only around 2012 cars were sold in 700.000, 780.000 new bicycles found an owner. A similar picture emerges in Italy. For the first time since the Second World War, bicycles are the norm here too. The ratio is 1,6 million bikes to 1,4 million cars. According to NPR, this has been the case for years, particularly in southern and eastern European countries. It is remarkable that the bicycle market is still growing. Around 2012 bikes and just 32.000 cars were sold in Greece in 5.800.
In Germany, too, the wheel is ahead. Last year almost 900.000 more bikes were sold than cars. The reason for this trend? According to NPR, the development can be traced back to the financial crisis. On the other hand, the broadcaster also sees the ecological advantage that the bike brings with it as an important factor.