60 percent of motorcycles sold in 2018 were scooters

Sixty percent of motorcycles sold in 2018 were scooters, while the number of gear motorbikes accounted for 40 percent. Though scooters are considered ‘luxury vehicles’, they still sold well in rural areas.

The marketing director of a foreign-invested motorbike manufacturing enterprise noted that Vietnamese, especially in Hanoi and HCMC, favor scooters and are tending to shift to high-end products.

High-end scooters are products with starting prices of VND50 million and more. About 400,000 products of this kind were sold last year, of which 300,000 products were sold by Honda Vietnam alone. Another 30,000 products were made by Piaggio Vietnam and the remaining by other manufacturers.

According to Piaggio Vietnam’s CEO Gianluc Fiume, with the annual growth rate of 13 percent per annum, the sales of scooters contributed to the stable growth of the motorbike market in Vietnam.

The demand has brought big profits to manufacturers. Honda expanded the market share from 70 to 75 percent in 2018. In rush months, some sales agents offered the selling price at VND5-20 million higher than the quoted prices. Honda’s SH Mode, SH 150i, SH 125i, Lead and Vision were the bestsellers.

The 2018 finance report of VEAM, the Vietnamese partner in Honda Vietnam’s joint venture, showed that in the first nine months of 2018, VEAM received VND3.371 trillion worth of profits from Honda Vietnam. Contributing 30 percent of charter capital, Honda pocketed VND15 trillion in 2018. 

Thoi Bao Kinh Te Viet Nam quoted an expert as saying that the profits of motorbike manufacturing and trading are no less than 10-20 percent. 

According to VAMM (Vietnam Association of Motorbike Manufacturers), the demand and habit of using motorbikes in Vietnam is still high.

A report found that the number of motorbikes in Vietnam has increased by 13 times in the last 20 years with 565 motorbikes per 1,000 people, the same level in Taiwan. Motorbikes remain the most popular means of travel, with an average of 2.4 motorbikes per family.

The number of motorbikes has been increasing proportionally with people’s income. The number of cars is also on the rise, but this has not led to the decrease in number of motorbikes. 

Both low-income and high-income earners use motorbikes for traveling. The report says 40 percent of people with the highest income still use motorbikes daily.