The festive season had failed to light up motorbike sales towards theyear end in Vietnam, with demand continuing to fall, local dealers havesaid.
Buyers have resisted the lure of discountsand freebies offered by dealers through a series of sales promotionslaunched before the year end.
Domestic motorbikesales for 2013 were expected to fall to around 2.5 million unitscompared to 3.1 million in 2012, due to slow economic growth and weakdemand, according to the Vietnam Auto Motorcycle and BicycleAssociation.
Dealers are also struggling during one of their worst years.
"The months before Tet used to be the best time for business withpeople rushing to buy new bikes, but this year is quite different," saidPham Manh Sy, director of the Viet Phu Company, a prominent Yamahadealer in Hanoi.
Sy said unlike previous years when they had enjoyed high sales numbers, he had sold only four bikes last month.
"This is the worst year since I started the business 15 years ago. Iam thinking about closing the dealership and turning it into arestaurant," he told Viet Nam News in a telephone interview on December17.
Most motorbikes dealers are suffering like Sy despite a series of discounts and sales promotions.
Suzuki has cut 2 million VND (97 USD) from the price of its Hayatescooters, and Yamaha is offering 1.5 million VND vouchers for buyers ofits Nozza model.
The country's most popular brand Honda has also cut prices of its best selling Wave by 500,000 VND.
Even Italian luxury scooter maker Piaggio, which rarely cuts prices, is offering buyers free bike registration fees.
"However, prospective buyers have fallen, and purchasing power is falling," said a Honda dealer in Hanoi.
The country's two largest motorbike manufacturers, Honda and Yamaha,which account for over 90 percent of the local market share, mayexperience another bad year in 2014.
According to asource close to these firms, Yamaha sales may drop by 10 percent to750,000 this year, while Honda expects to hit around 1.5 million to 1.9million units this year.
Vietnam's motorbike market,the fourth-largest in the world, has shown signs of saturation, withannual output having exceeded demand, prompting producers in theSoutheast Asian country to speed up their exports to other markets.
With motorbike sales totalling 3.1 million units last year, Vietnam isthe fourth largest motorbike market, after China, India and Indonesia.
But motorbike sales in Vietnam have started todecline largely due to a slowdown in the country's economic growth. Lastyear's growth was up 5.03 percent over 2011, the slowest pace in 13years.
Motorbikes are the most common means oftransport in Vietnam, which has a population of 90 million and 37million registered motorbikes, while the number of cars is just around 2million.-VNA
Buyers have resisted the lure of discountsand freebies offered by dealers through a series of sales promotionslaunched before the year end.
Domestic motorbikesales for 2013 were expected to fall to around 2.5 million unitscompared to 3.1 million in 2012, due to slow economic growth and weakdemand, according to the Vietnam Auto Motorcycle and BicycleAssociation.
Dealers are also struggling during one of their worst years.
"The months before Tet used to be the best time for business withpeople rushing to buy new bikes, but this year is quite different," saidPham Manh Sy, director of the Viet Phu Company, a prominent Yamahadealer in Hanoi.
Sy said unlike previous years when they had enjoyed high sales numbers, he had sold only four bikes last month.
"This is the worst year since I started the business 15 years ago. Iam thinking about closing the dealership and turning it into arestaurant," he told Viet Nam News in a telephone interview on December17.
Most motorbikes dealers are suffering like Sy despite a series of discounts and sales promotions.
Suzuki has cut 2 million VND (97 USD) from the price of its Hayatescooters, and Yamaha is offering 1.5 million VND vouchers for buyers ofits Nozza model.
The country's most popular brand Honda has also cut prices of its best selling Wave by 500,000 VND.
Even Italian luxury scooter maker Piaggio, which rarely cuts prices, is offering buyers free bike registration fees.
"However, prospective buyers have fallen, and purchasing power is falling," said a Honda dealer in Hanoi.
The country's two largest motorbike manufacturers, Honda and Yamaha,which account for over 90 percent of the local market share, mayexperience another bad year in 2014.
According to asource close to these firms, Yamaha sales may drop by 10 percent to750,000 this year, while Honda expects to hit around 1.5 million to 1.9million units this year.
Vietnam's motorbike market,the fourth-largest in the world, has shown signs of saturation, withannual output having exceeded demand, prompting producers in theSoutheast Asian country to speed up their exports to other markets.
With motorbike sales totalling 3.1 million units last year, Vietnam isthe fourth largest motorbike market, after China, India and Indonesia.
But motorbike sales in Vietnam have started todecline largely due to a slowdown in the country's economic growth. Lastyear's growth was up 5.03 percent over 2011, the slowest pace in 13years.
Motorbikes are the most common means oftransport in Vietnam, which has a population of 90 million and 37million registered motorbikes, while the number of cars is just around 2million.-VNA
