PHL motorcycle industry seen to surpass Thailand’s sales volume

The country’s motorcycle industry is expected to surpass the sales volume of Thailand’s sector for 2017, Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association (MDPPA) President Armando Reyes told reporters. (Photo: Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association, Inc./Facebook)

MANILA—The country’s motorcycle industry is expected to surpass the sales volume of Thailand’s sector for 2017, Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association (MDPPA) President Armando Reyes told reporters.

In a briefing Wednesday, Reyes said sales of the local industry this year is projected to reach 1.68 million units, only a 40,000-unit gap to Thailand’s current sales volume of 1.72 million units.

He noted drivers for the industry growth which include increasing Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) and per capita GDP as well as available financing and easier terms of payment from local dealers.

The industry also sees the traffic congestion as an opportunity to motorcycle manufacturers, as there are consumers that opt motorcycles than four-wheel vehicles for faster commuting.

For the MDPPA alone, the group forecasts to hit 12 to 15 percent growth at end-2017.

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

Moped motorcycle 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 were in Visayas, and 20 percent were in Mindanao.

For 2018, the entire industry eyes sales to reach 1.9 million units.

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