Motorcycle sales rise 20% in first quarter

Motorcycle sales grew by 20 percent in the first quarter of the year as the public took advantage of the cheaper rates and affordable loans offered by local motorcycle assemblers in the face of stiff competition from low-priced Chinese brands and second-hand units.

Former Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association (MDPPA) president Mateo B. Ocenar said a total of 58,000 units were sold in the first three months from only 48,000 units during the same period last year. Solo bikes accounted for 15 percent of the total units sold.

Ocenar said Japanese assemblers – Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha and Suzuki – slashed prices of their units to compete head-on with the cheaper Chinese brands and pre-owned units that are dumped into the country.

Last year, motorcycle sales declined by eight percent to 211,000 units from 230,000 in 2001. The industry is looking at an 18-percent increase in its sales this year to 250,000 units, still a far cry from the annual sales of other Asian countries like Thailand (1.5 million units), Indonesia (1.9 million), and Malaysia (475,000).

China, on the other hand, produces 10 million motor bikes a year, making it the world’s largest motorbike assembler.

The Japanese assemblers earlier blamed the Department of Trade and Industry for allowing Chinese motorcycle brands and second-hand units to penetrate the Philippine market through slack registration requirements.

They were being undercut by cheaper Chinese brands that were being sold at prices substantially lower than the domestic price. Motorcycle assemblers said this deprives the government of its rightful duties.

The Japanese assemblers said the DTI should stop accepting more participants in the Motorcycle Development Program which has jumped to 19 brands.