Big bikes sales in Thailand keep growing

BANGKOK, January 9 (TNA) - Sales of big bikes in Thailand have kept growing so far, by about 20 per cent yearly. Suchart Arunsaengroj, Director of AP Honda, the distributor of Honda motorcycles in Thailand, told journalists of the prospect on Friday, elaborating that domestic sales of big bikes, with 400cc engines upward and priced 200,000 to over 300,000 baht, have kept expanding. In 2014, Suchart pointed out, domestic sales of big bikes totaled about 16,000 units, up about 20 per cent from the previous year, and it is expected that their sales this year should also sustain growth of approximately 20 per cent. Suchart noted that Thailand's continued booming business of big bikes appears contrary to sales of ordinary motorcycles, which contracted by 15 per cent last year. According to the AP Honda director, positive factors having helped push domestic sales of big bikes include their declining prices, caused by greater competition among several Japanese, Chinese and European manufacturers, and considerably-reduced import tariffs from 60 per cent to only 16 per cent last year. The import tariffs are projected to further drop to 11 per cent this year and to zero in 2017. Besides, payment on installment basis has helped would-be buyers of big bikes to easily owned them. The AP Honda director cautioned, however, that the general scenario of motorcycle sales in Thailand is likely to grow more difficultly in the near future, given statistics that one motorcycle is now owned by three persons. (TNA)