CFMOTO prepares 550MT on back of 450MT sales success
CFMOTO is widely expected to unveil a new 550MT at EICMA in Milan next month, as the Chinese manufacturer looks to build on the remarkable international success of its 450MT adventure motorcycle.
We now have a clearer idea of how successful the 450MT has been in Australia. Local importer Mojo Motorcycles told MCNews that more than 4,000 examples have hit Australian roads since the model arrived in May 2024.
That volume makes the 450MT a potential contender for Australia’s biggest-selling road motorcycle, but without a comprehensive national model-by-model sales audit, its position cannot be confirmed. It certainly raises the stakes for whatever CFMOTO has planned next.
CFMOTO management says it sold more than 12,000 in Europe in 2024 alone, despite the bike arriving partway through the year.
More than 4,000 on Australian roads
When we tested the 450MT in the Victorian High Country in August 2024, more than 600 had already been sold locally in its first three months. Less than two and a half years after arriving, that tally has passed 4,000. That is a remarkable result for a single model in a market where manufacturers participating in the FCAI sales audit record only around 33,000 road motorcycle sales a year.
To gauge the scale of that figure, we reviewed MCNews’s FCAI sales reports. Participating brands recorded 34,266 road motorcycle sales in 2024, 33,018 in 2025, and 24,163 during the first nine months of 2026. Using the first-half 2024 figures and the corresponding first-quarter total, and estimating April as one-third of second-quarter sales, we calculate that approximately 23,265 of the 2024 road-bike sales came after the 450MT launched in May.
That produces an estimated 80,450 road motorcycles recorded by FCAI brands between May 2024 and September 2026. The 4,000-plus 450MTs alone are equivalent to almost five per cent of that entire tally, or roughly one 450MT for every 20 road motorcycles reported through the FCAI audit.
That is not an actual five per cent national market share. CFMOTO is absent from the FCAI figures, along with Royal Enfield and other brands, while Mojo’s latest tally extends into October and the most recent FCAI report covers sales only through September. The 2024 May-to-December total is also an estimate rather than an exact monthly breakdown.
Could the 450MT therefore be Australia’s biggest-selling road motorcycle? It is a credible possibility, but not a ranking we can verify. Yamaha, for example, identified its YZF-R7LA as the highest-selling road model among FCAI brands in 2024, but the detailed model-by-model audit figures are no longer publicly released. Nor can an individual model’s sales over almost two and a half years prove it topped any particular calendar year. What we can say is that the 450MT has achieved an extraordinary Australian sales volume for a single road-registered adventure motorcycle.
A hit far beyond Australia
Australia is not the only market where the 450MT has struck a chord. During our interview at CFMOTO headquarters in Hangzhou, Vice President of Sales for Europe Markus Ferch revealed that the model sold more than 12,000 units in Europe in 2024 alone, despite arriving only partway through the year. He acknowledged that its initial sales growth exceeded expectations.
Markus Ferch
“It is very strong in Australia, but I have to say, you can’t feel unique because the 450MT was just a blast everywhere.”
That success is especially important to CFMOTO because the 450MT is based around its own parallel-twin engine platform. Buyers are drawn to the motorcycle’s capabilities, not simply because it is an inexpensive alternative to an established Japanese or European brand.
Why the 450MT worked
Its formula is straightforward: a willing 449 cc parallel twin, 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheels, adjustable KYB suspension with 200 mm of travel at each end and a package that comes in at around 190 kg ready to ride. It is not an enduro motorcycle, nor does it offer the effortless loaded touring performance of a larger adventure bike, but it makes heading onto gravel roads and more demanding trails less intimidating.
We were impressed when we rode it at the international launch in 2024, and our subsequent Australian testing reinforced its combination of usable road manners and genuine off-road potential. That balance, along with competitive pricing, helps explain its popularity.
Mario Román takes it much further
The model has also enjoyed an extraordinary competition result. Mario Román won the 2026 Red Bull Romaniacs Adventure Ultimate category on a race-prepared CFMOTO 450MT, beating Pol Tarrés on a Yamaha Ténéré 700 by 14 minutes and 40 seconds, with Dieter Rudolf third on a KTM 890 Adventure. CFMOTO swept all three Adventure categories.
During our separate interview with Román in China, he explained that the engine internals and frame remained standard, while the suspension, tyres and engine mapping had been modified for competition. The clutch was also standard, though he replaced the plates each day as a precaution against the extraordinary punishment of repeated technical climbs.
Mario Román
“I raced Romaniacs with the standard clutch, even if people don’t think about that. The bike survived. I just changed the plates every day, just for safety.”
Román’s role extends well beyond promoting the brand. He is involved in prototype and component testing, with regular contact with CFMOTO engineers. We can assume some of the fruits of that work are destined for the expected 550MT, but it shows how the company is building its off-road expertise.
The competition responds
Ferch believes the 450MT helped reignite interest in manageable adventure motorcycles with real off-road ability. CFMOTO certainly did not invent the category, but its success has intensified competition. He pointed to BMW, Kawasaki, Honda and other Chinese manufacturers developing or strengthening their presence in this part of the market.
BMW’s F 450 GS and Kawasaki’s KLE500 bring their own interpretations of the concept. We have been evaluating the latter as a long-termer, with our first KLE500 SE report examining its strengths and limitations in standard trim. Buyers now have more choice, but CFMOTO also has more competition for the customers it helped attract.
Markus Ferch
“This is why we already are working on an answer to that.”
What might the 550MT bring?
That brings us back to the 550MT expected at EICMA. When asked whether another new motorcycle was coming, Román offered a knowing “Very soon”… Whether the 550MT will directly replace the 450MT, complement it as a larger-capacity alternative, or take CFMOTO’s adventure range in a somewhat different direction remains to be seen. MCNews.com.au believes the 550MT will effectively replace the MT450 in the CFMOTO line-up.
What is clear is that CFMOTO has a successful formula to build on. More than 4,000 Australian 450MTs, over 12,000 European sales in its first partial year, and a Romaniacs class victory offer three different measures of its appeal. The question now is how CFMOTO follows that success as the market becomes increasingly crowded. Watch this space, we don’t have long to wait before we find out…
