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Motorbike sales drop after fuel price rise
Motorbike shops are looking empty these days as escalating petrol prices have changed transportation demands.
A contrast to the bustling atmosphere electric bike stores have enjoyed over the past few days, many motorbike stores in HCM City and Ha Noi have been complaining that they’ve hardly seen any new bikes leave their shops, with few customers hanging around.
"After the Ministry of Finance decided to increase the local petrol price by 31 per cent, fuel hungry scooters such as Honda SH, Honda Dylan, Piaggio LX, SYM Attila stopped selling, although we are offering customers US$200 off on SH and Dylan motorcycle," said Tran Trung Hieu, who keeps a motorbike shop on Phu Doan Street, Ha Noi.
A salesman of Cho Lon Motorbike Co, located in District 5 of HCM City, agreed that he’s seeing less customers visiting the shop since the record-high price hike of gasoline.
In District 2, Bao Phuc and Nam Que motorcycle companies also complained about dismal demand, as employees are left with little to do, despite generous gift programmes to incite buyers.
According to a shop-assistant of Quang Phuong on An Duong Vuong Street in District 5, the shop was selling dozens of motorcycles daily before the price hike. That number has since gone down by a fifth, and sometimes the shop sells nothing for a few days at a time.
"That inventory level of motorbikes has had a negative impact on traders, especially small ones, because almost all of their trading capital is ‘buried’ in a batch of motorbikes," said owner of a motorbike store on Ba Trieu Street, Ha Noi, Nguyen Thi Mai.
"More than half of buyers contacting with me now want smaller motorbikes," she added. "They seem to ignore motor-scooters which use more gasoline than economic models like Honda Cub motorcycles and Wave."
Used up
Second-hand motorbike stores shared a similar fate to big trading centres when petrol prices rose sharply over two weeks ago.
"My store hasn’t been buying more used motor-scooters, despite the strong decrease of prices," said Nguyen Hoang Hai, a store trading second-hand motorcycles of all kinds in Dich Vong motorbike market, Ha Noi. "More and more customers want to sell them, but few motorcyclists are interested in using them."
"Over the past week, there have been a few customers looking for motorcycles and we nearly have no revenue," said another shop owner at No 40 Phan Dang Luu in HCM City.
Food or fuel
Looking to save their paycheques, customers like Dinh Quoc Viet, who makes just VND2 million a month ($121.2) at a State-owned office, said that the difference is substantial considering his modest monthly income. "With the rise in fuel prices, I’ve turned back to my old motorcycle," said Viet.
Viet explained that a motorcycle like the Honda SH uses maybe 4.5 litres of petrol per 100km, equivalent to VND86,000 ($5.2) while a Honda Dream only uses about 2 litres or VND38,000 ($2.3). Shop owners are noticing that a preference for stylish models is being gradually replaced by practical and economical demands nation-wide, even in the two biggest cities of Ha Noi and HCM City.
"Strolling the streets in HCM City these days, I notice a large number of fuel-efficient motorbikes around, even though they’re not expensive and are not that stylish," said Nguyen Thi Dong, a retired officer.
"The old Honda Cub motorbike, which had fallen into oblivion some months ago because of its old-fashioned style, became popular in my family when gasoline prices rose sharply," Dong added.
With fuel prices pushing drivers to more fuel-efficient motorbikes, many industry experts agree that now is the time for those companies to take control of the local market.
VNS
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