MOTORCYCLES / AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION MODELS

Yamaha expects to beat market

SANTAN SANTIVIMOLNAT

Thai Yamaha Motor Co, the leader in the local automatic transmission motorcycle market, is upbeat about its prospects this year.

The company says its sales are expected to outperform the market, which is set to slide due to various negative factors.

Praphan Pholthanavasith, the company's executive vice-president, said total motorcycle sales in Thailand this year were expected to drop by 200,000 units, or 11%, to 1.75 million units from 1.97 million last year.

The unclear political picture and a forecast slowdown in economic growth from last year would depress motorcycle sales this year, he said.

Yamaha's view is different from that of AP Honda, which earlier expected that motorcycle sales this year would record flat growth.

Mr Praphan said, however, that Yamaha's motorcycle sales would equal last year's total, when the company's performance hit historical highs.

Thai Yamaha Motor last year sold a record 465,000 motorcycles, a 17% increase from the previous year, while the overall market growth was 6%.

This year, the company projects sales of at least 460,000 units, close to that of last year. Due to the shrinking market, the company's market share is expected to increase slightly to 27% from 24% last year.

Mr Praphan said the company's strategic policy was to maintain its leading status in automatic transmission (AT) motorcycles.

The AT motorcycle market volume would be around 800,000 units sold this year; Yamaha accounts for half of that. Yamaha pioneered AT motorcycles in the local market in 2004, and was soon followed by Suzuki, which launched its first AT model in 2005.

AP Honda Co, which accounts for about 70% of all motorbikes sold in Thailand, was a latecomer.

Bangkok Post
Sunday February 11, 2007