Motorcycle sales boom seen to surpass Thai level

Election spending, the traffic crisis and the increase in remittances of overseas Filipino workers all contributed to the surging sales of the country’s Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association (MDPPA) with an all-time sales hit of 1.1 million motorcycles, especially the light-engine or moped variety, in 2016. 

This year, motorcycle sales are expected to match, if not surpass, those of Thailand, according to Armando Reyes, president of the Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association (MDPPA).

Reyes told a briefing on Wednesday said motorcycle sales this year were projected to reach 1.68 million units, which would only be 40,000 units lower than Thailand’s current sales volume of 1.72 million.

He noted that drivers for motorcycle sales growth in the country included higher personal income as well as available financing and easier terms of payment from local dealers.

The industry also sees the current traffic problem as an added incentive, as there are consumers who would now prefer motorcycles than four-wheel vehicles for faster travel.

For the MDPPA alone, the group forecasts sales to grow by 12 to 15 percent this year.

Last year, MDPPA sales grew by 34 percent to 1.14 million units from 952,570 vehicles sold in 2015.

Light-engine motorcycles or mopeds shared the largest number of sales among MDPPA members, with 418,043 units, then followed by automatic transmission models with sales of 274,104 units.

Sixty percent of the industry group’s sales were in Luzon, 20 percent in the Visayas, and 20 percent in Mindanao. For 2018, the industry targets sales to reach 1.9 million units.

The MDPPA is composed of local motorcycle manufacturers such as Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kymco.

The MDPPA has positive outlook that the participants could serve the rising demand since factory utilization at each manufacturing facilities is still relatively at low level pegged at 60 percent.

The MDPPA’s Reyes attributed the positive performance of motorcycle firms to the increase in private consumption.

MDPPA Road Safety Chairman Jacinto Cadugo reported that the association would be intensifying its road safety program through continued education and seminar for the growing numbers of motorcycle users.

For this year, Cadugo said that the MDPPA would launch various road-safety seminars for schoolchildren.

The association will be sponsoring seminars at Lourdes School in Mandaluyong, Holy Spirit and New Era, among other places.

The MDDPA said its all-time sales high of 1,140,338 million in 2016 exceeded its 952,570 sales target for the year, posting the highest growth among members of the Federation of Asian Motorcycle Industries (Fami), which include six other motorcycle associations from Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

The MDPPA credits the local motorcycle industry’s 2016 growth to an increase in private consumption, the prevalent use of mopeds for personal purposes, the introduction of new models, higher foreign-exchange rates and remittances, and traffic congestion in metropolitan areas. The same factors will continue to fuel the industry’s performance this year, it said.

The MDPPA’s 2016 performance has definitely set the momentum for hitting an even higher sales mark this year. The MDPPA expects motorcycle sales to accelerate along with the increasing demand for mobility especially in major cities. RIZA LOZADA