Philippines Posts Highest Motorcycle Sales in ASEAN Region

Philippines enjoys the biggest growth in motorcycle sales for the first five months of the year compared to its neighboring countries in the ASEAN region.

The Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association (MDPPA), whose group is composed of members such as Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kymco, said that the country enjoyed a staggering 14 percent increase in sales for January to May 2017.

Based on its records, industry sales for the January-May period reached 504,931 units, a stellar leap from the recorded 444,062 units rolled out for the same period in 2016.

The group also said that Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand saw a seven-percent rise in sales for the same duration.

Malaysia sold 182,998 units from January to May, as opposed to their 171,261 units for the same time span the previous year; Thailand had 773,748 units for the said period this year as compared to the 725,552 in 2016; and Singapore with 3,566 units versus the 3,345 for the previous year.

It was only Indonesia which experienced a 10 percent slowdown in sales: 2,321,079 for the first five months of the year versus the 2,565,452 units last year.

The slowdown in sales led to a three percent decrease in the sales for the region. 

MDPPA president Armando Reyes explained that the Philippines enjoys the continuing increase in sales due to numerous reasons.

"Compared with other Southeast Asian markets, the Philippine market is not yet saturated, thus providing many investment opportunities. The expanding Filipino middle-class segment sees motorcycles as efficient and cost-effective for both personal and business needs. In line with this, many
businesses see the need for more motorcycles, specifically the business model type, for their delivery services," Reyes explained.