Motorcycle market without Tet

Motorcycles at the end of 2013 are not as bustling as previous years, most models return to suggested prices or even lower.

With their eyes glued to their phone screens, three female employees of a motorbike dealership did not bother to stand up when a customer came in to ask about a vehicle. The order seemed to be reversed, with customers talking more when asked about the prices of the models and receiving short, uninterested answers. The sluggish situation made the employees and dealers lose motivation to sell.

"There's no Tet this year," a manager of a Yamaha dealership lamented. The company's year-end models, such as the Nouvo and Exciter, are all priced at the starting line. While the new Nouvo is priced at around 37-38 million, the Exciter is also sold at the right price, with the most expensive manual clutch version at 40 million.

Honda is not much better off. The last days of the year are crowded with cars in front of the Head, but mostly staff and customers come for maintenance. Inside the glass doors, staff sit in long lines, with no customers to serve.

Most car models return to their suggested prices, dealers are empty of customers. Photo: Duc Huy.

In early November, two scooter models named SH were typical cases. If SH 125i was increased by 6 million to 72 million compared to the suggested retail price, SH Mode was also at 52 million, higher than the price of 49 million that Honda offered.

But the fever seems to have not brought results when the number of customers visiting the car is not much, so there is no psychological effect to push the car model to be as popular as every year. To sell the brand, the Head is gradually lowering the price to bring it closer to the price given by the manufacturer, but the situation is still not brighter.

At the showrooms of the Piaggio fashion scooter brand, models such as Vespa Primavera, Super GTS or Liberty are all sold at the manufacturer's price. The price of 68.8 million VND of Primavera has not helped the new Vespa gain the same position as its elder brother LX which has made waves in the Vietnamese market in previous years.

Only about a month and a half left until Lunar New Year, if about 2-3 years ago, Honda dealers often sold 300-400 cars per month, now this number has dropped to only about 40-50 cars, Tet is no longer considered one of the best sales seasons of the year.

Explaining this issue, a manager of a Yamaha dealer said that the economy in general has not yet escaped from difficulties, people's income has decreased significantly but the price of motorbikes has not fluctuated, even increased compared to previous years. In addition, the development of other vehicle segments such as electric bicycles, imported small motorbikes has also caused the popular motorbike line to no longer receive the same attention as in previous years.

The two companies that account for 90% of the motorbike market share in Vietnam, Yamaha and Honda, both have not had good results. Yamaha Vietnam said that 2013 sales could decrease by about 7-8% compared to 2012. Honda also did not fare any better than 2012.

Even emerging segments such as imported small-sized motorcycles are not doing well. Last year, reputable imported motorcycle showrooms sold an average of 30-40 units per month during the Tet holiday season, with vehicles of around 150cc, priced at VND100 million or less. But this year, these showrooms all reported a sharp drop in sales, a lack of sales, and did not want to mention specific numbers.

The economic difficulties are the common cause, but the decline in the number of 150cc motorcycles is also explained by those who sell this type of vehicle due to the abolition of the A2 license restriction, which will take effect early next year. Those who can afford a larger vehicle, about 250cc, are waiting until the A2 license is clear before buying, significantly reducing sales for stores.

When the scale of the popular motorbike market cannot expand any further, approaching the saturation point, all companies have begun to have plans to shift their business to the motorbike segment. Suzuki has distributed EN-150A for a long time, recently Yamaha revealed the image of the nakedbike V-ixion that this company is about to launch in Vietnam, other big companies are also aiming to enter the market. 2014 promises to be a turning point for the Vietnamese two-wheeled vehicle market.

According to vnexrpess