Motorcycle sales grow 3% this year

Market leader Honda has turned crisis into opportunity by developing the PGM-FI technology for use with all new models to meet the needs of today's consumers during the oil crisis.

It features three benefits - fuel savings, lower exhaust emissions and greater performance.

Honda's Wave 125i family model scored the highest growth rate at 22 per cent, reflecting the strong interest in the fuel-injection technology.

Teerapat Chivapong, sales director of AP Honda, on Wednesday said the increase in new-motorcycle registrations was driven by several factors.

Higher commodity prices gave farmers - the core customer target - more income and purchasing power. Some car users switched to using two-wheel transportation to save money on fuel, he said.

First-half registration data for the industry indicated all of the main motorcycle models showed growth, with family motorcycles performing the best at 4 per cent, or 442,106 units. The family category was the only one gaining in market share, from 50 per cent last year to 51 per cent.

Automatic-transmission motorcycles had 45 per cent of the overall market with sales of 396,061 units, up 2 per cent from the same period last year.

Family-sport models took 3 per cent of the market with sales of 25,272 units, down 2 per cent. Sport models accounted for 1 per cent with sales of 5,789 units, up 3 per cent.

Other categories recorded sales of 3,416 units.

Oil-price hikes and the tough economy are still expected to encourage consumers in the second half of the year to make greater use of motorcycles.

Overall motorcycle sales hit 163,501 units last month, the highest level since September 2006 and up 7 per cent year on year.