What explains the decline in sales of Canyon?

Bad times for Canyon, which has recently announced its numbers for the third quarter of 2026, revealing a 7% drop in sales compared to the previous year. A situation that Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, the parent company of Canyon, attributes to structural aspects of the bicycle market.

The oversupply and large discounts are the cause of Canyon's sales decline, according to its parent company

Although these poor numbers cannot be attributed to a specific cause, GBL, the company that owns Canyon, points to an intrinsic aspect of the cycling market as responsible for the difficult year the German brand is experiencing: an overwhelmingly broad supply and the large discounts that brands end up offering to clear out so much production.

This directly clashes with Canyon's direct sales model, which propelled the brand to stardom thanks to an unbeatable quality-price ratio compared to other brands. However, over time, Canyon's products have become more expensive, while those of other brands have adjusted their prices, meaning the Germans no longer have that exorbitant advantage that made their bikes unbeatable against similar models.

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Sales have also been hampered by the recalls suffered last year by their Spectral:ON models in their CF and CFR versions, as well as by the Torque:ON CF after safety issues were detected in their batteries. Fortunately for Canyon, sales of gravel and road bikes remained strong and helped cushion the impact of this problem.

Canyon has also not been immune to the market uncertainty regarding the tariffs announced by Donald Trump, and in fact, both in Asia and the United States, sales have decreased the most to the point that in the United States, the brand has laid off an indeterminate number of employees.

The situation seems so delicate that the founder of Canyon, Roman Arnold, has returned to an active role within the company's organizational structure, taking on the position of CEO after the resignation of Nicolas De Ros Wallace, who previously held that position. A change in leadership that is expected to bring about various measures to turn around the downward trend in the company's accounts.