Honda Wave Alpha: 'Savior' with the image of a wave

20 years ago, the Honda Wave and Honda Dream duo held an unbeatable position in the Vietnamese motorbike market. Now, when Dream has passed its peak, Wave continues to fight.

Once considered the "savior" that helped Honda overcome the most difficult years in the Vietnamese motorbike market, Honda Wave is on its way to becoming a new symbol of the Japanese car company, after the legends that remain forever in the memories of Vietnamese people such as Honda 67 or Honda Dream.

When Honda inaugurated its first factory in Vinh Phuc, the first model the company chose to assemble in Vietnam was the Honda Super Dream. At that time, Honda Wave was not yet known to many Vietnamese people, because most of the Waves sold in Vietnam had to be imported from Thailand with a value equal to a house at that time. Therefore, to own a Honda Wave, for Vietnamese people, it was a dream.

Having been in the motorbike business from 1996 to 2007, Mr. Tran Hanh said: "At that time, a motorbike was considered an asset of Vietnamese people. The value of a motorbike at that time was converted to each tael of gold. Importing Honda Wave from Thailand to Vietnam was still difficult, so it can be said that owning a Wave at that time was as cool as having a car today."

Compared to other models in the manual transmission market, the Thai Wave has a youthful, eye-catching design, many improved features, and is fuel-efficient, so it is very popular even though each model costs nearly 2,500 USD.

In just a few years, the Honda Wave "wave" has spread, this model is increasingly popular with young customers as well as middle-aged people in the Vietnamese market. However, because of that success, there was a period when Honda Wave was massively imitated by Chinese motorbike manufacturers. Loncin and Lifan brand motorbikes with the same design as Wave were widely sold in Vietnam with prices of only about 13 million VND or less. This put Honda in a "difficult position", when Honda Dream gradually lost its advantage. From the position of "big brother" in the motorbike industry, Honda's sales quickly declined, pushing the Japanese car company into a very difficult situation when it could not compete with Chinese cars in terms of selling price.

In a situation where it had to find a way out if it did not want to lose customers, Honda decided to create a product that was competitive in price to "compete" with Chinese models. In 2002, Honda launched the Honda Wave Alpha model in the Vietnamese market with most of its components imported from China, Thailand, etc. The first generation of Wave Alpha was equipped with a 4-stroke, 97cc engine with the advantage of being very durable and fuel-efficient. However, it is worth noting that the price of this model was only about 12 million VND. Therefore, Wave Alpha quickly attracted customers, helping Honda regain market share, while also creating a fatal blow that put Chinese motorcycle manufacturers in a situation of "tearing the boss and hitting the boss's back".

With its overwhelming brand and quality, the Vietnamese market has been cleared of Chinese motorbikes since then. After the success of the first generation Wave Alpha, Honda has launched improved versions of the Honda Wave every year. In 2004, the company launched the Wave ZX, a custom-made model after surveying the needs of Vietnamese consumers. A year later, the Wave RS was produced and launched on the market.

The year 2006 marked the appearance of Wave RSV or Wave Repsol with alloy rims and sporty color scheme.

Next came a series of Wave S, Wave RSX... This is probably the most diverse line of motorbikes Honda has ever developed. This diversity has helped Honda Wave suit many customers and become the best-selling motorbike in Vietnam.

Up to now, after nearly 15 years of development, Honda Wave only has 2 product lines: Wave RSX and Wave Alpha. Although the development of the scooter market has made Honda Wave no longer popular with office workers, this model is still very popular. Mr. Hoang Nguyen Duy, who has owned a Honda Wave since 2002, shared: "The Honda Wave has accompanied me since my student years with many memories. When I got married and moved out, then bought a car for both of us to commute to work, everyone advised me to sell the old Wave if I didn't use it to save money, but I still wanted to keep it, the bike still works well, consumes little gas, sometimes I still feel happy when I take it out for a ride".

It is undeniable that the proliferation of scooters and manual motorbikes has caused Honda Wave to lose market share, but with its versatility and suitability to many customers, Honda continues to maintain and develop the vehicle line. Compared to the first generation, the price of Wave Alpha has also been raised from 12 million to 17 million VND, but in this price range, few competitors can compete with Wave Alpha in terms of elegant design as well as brand name.

It can be said that in the minds of Vietnamese people, Honda Wave cannot be compared with monuments like Honda Cub or Honda Dream, but in terms of influence, it is not inferior.

According to TNO