Nguyen Van Q, a worker at a Honda HEAD in Go Vap district, said that Honda Air Blade 160 is selling at VND61.9-65.1 million, or VND5.2-6.7 million higher than the MSRP. Honda Air Blade 125 selling price is selling at VND44.8-47.7 million, or VND2.8-4 million higher than the MSRP.

The quoted prices for Honda SH125i are VND73.9-83.4 million, while the real prices applied by dealers are VND6.8-7.5 million higher. The figures are VND98.5-110.2 million and VND6-8 million, respectively.

However, Honda Vision, which was popular and had selling prices VND7-9 million more than the MSRP in the past, has seen prices decrease. The gap between real prices and MSRP has dropped to VND1-2 million. The model is selling at VND32-38.5 million.

Honda Lead now has better prices, VND39.8-44 million, VND2-3 million lower than in May.

Honda Winner X is the only model which has actual prices lower than MSRP. It is selling at VND36-40.5 million, or VND10 million lower than MSRP.

Though Honda’s prices have decreased slightly compared with prices in April and May, they are still higher than MSRP, which could be why the number of buyers is lower than in May.

Nguyen Vinh K, a worker at a Honda HEAD in Binh Thanh district, said his sale agent cut selling prices to stimulate demand, but sales are still going slowly.

“I have sold two products so far this month, but I could sell four to five products the same period last year,” K said. 

Sale agents of other motorbike manufacturers have been sitting idle as there is no buyer. Tran Quang D, a Yamaha sale agent in Go Vap district, said the market is not as bustling as it was some years ago.

“The market is lackluster because of economic difficulties. The purchasing power has dropped significantly,” he said. “I have sold 2 PG-1s so far this month, and I sold only six products in May."

There is always a price gap between MSRP and Yamaha car dealers. Exciter 155, for example, is selling at VND48-52 million, while Yamaha PG-1 is VND32 million.

The actual prices of Yamaha NVX are VND55-58 million, while Yamaha Grande is VND54-57.5 million. Sale agents said buyers only receive vouchers worth VND300,000-500,000 and some motorbike spare parts.

Market saturated

Analysts say that the Vietnamese motorbike market is saturated with sales decreasing. The number of sold products fell from 3.25 million in 2019 to 2.71 million (- 16 percent) in 2020.

Another decrease of 8 percent was seen in 2021 (2.49 million products were sold), partially because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The purchasing power recovered in 2022 after the pandemic was contained, with 3 million motorbikes sold. However, one year later, sales dropped to 2.51 million (- 16.3 percent) in 2023.

The situation remained gloomy in the first months 2024 with 603,475 products sold by the end of the first quarter, down 4.9 percent compared with the same period in 2023 and 20 percent compared to 2022.

The saturation of the market in recent years is partially explained by the appearance of electronic motorbikes and low-cost car models.

However, experts still believe that Vietnam is a leading market in Southeast Asia given the number of motorbike users. 

In 2023, Vietnam had the highest proportion of motorbike use, 72.8 percent, while the lowest proportion was reported for Singapore, 2.4 percent.

Vietnam remained one of the biggest motorbike consumers in 2023, but the number of Indonesians buying motorbikes was 2.5 times higher than Vietnamese.

Honda, in the 2023 fiscal year, the manufacturer sold 2.05 million motorbikes, a decrease of 12.2 percent compared with the previous year, but it still held 82.5 percent of market share.

In April 2024 alone, it sold 160,009 products, up 19.2 percent over the month before, but down 23.1 percent compared with April 2023. 

Analysts do not think that motorbike sales will see a breakthrough in the last months of the year, because people still have tightened their belts in economic difficulties. 

Dinh Quy