Slowly but surely, Vietnam is becoming the favored location for large scale motorbike manufacturing. If the trend continues, analysts predict that within 10 years, Vietnam will become the global leader in the industry.
During Vietnam’s economic revival in the 1990s, the item on the top of nearly everybody’s list was a motorbike. While the domestic market is still strong, it’s not what it once was as most people own one at this point. As a result, Vietnam has positioned itself as an exporter of motorbikes, especially to the ASEAN market.
Vietnam is already exporting Honda SH models to Japan, and hopes to ship 12,000 of them per year with an eye towards other markets:
“Masayuki Igarashi, General Director of Honda Vietnam, said the company plans to boost exports to Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Pakistan and Italia. It earns $40 million a year from the exports to the regional markets with just two models Dream and Wave.”
In addition to Honda, SYM, Yamaha and Piaggio are using their Vietnam factories to supply the Asian market, which, according to Piaggio Vietnam’s Tran Thu Mai, is enjoying the fastest growth rate in the world. Piaggio Vietnam hopes to export Euro70 million worth of motorbikes and motorbike parts in 2012-2014.
Things are going so well that Honda and Yamaha are planning huge expansions of their Vietnamese production capabilities:
“The third factory of Honda Vietnam capitalized at $120 million in Ha Nam is expected to become operational by the end of the year, which would raise the total production capacity of the manufacturer to 2.5 million products per annum. The Yamaha project, worth $50 million, is raising the production capacity to 1.5 million products per annum.”
It’s fitting that a country which loves motorbikes as much as Vietnam could become the world’s leading supplier.
