Thailand Motorcycles Market start of 2024 was disappointing. In the first quarter 2024, new two-wheeler sold in Thailand have been 454.795 (-11.1%) with the EV segment protagonist of a strong acceleration.
Thailand Motorcycles Industry Trend and Perspectives
Following three years of consecutive growth, the thailandese 2-wheelers industry, the sixth largest worldwide, started the 2024 in low tone, reporting a disappointing first quarter, with sales declined in double-digit.
The market growth in the last three years was not sustained by an increase of national economy, which was below expectations and the slowest in the region. While many hope were in place for a 2024 economic rebound, preliminary data is below expectations.
The National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) has reduced its 2024 growth forecast for Thailand’s economy to 2.2%-3.2%, from the 2.7%-3.7% predicted in November. The forecast was based on a 1.7% GDP growth in Q4 2023, driven by exports and private investment, but a 3% drop in government spending.
In the first quarter 2024, new two-wheeler sold in Thailand have been 454.795 (-11.1%) with the EV segment protagonist of a strong acceleration (+19.6 %) in L1 segment (+92.4%), while the L3 segment surprisingly decelerated (-24.9%).
Looking at top manufacturer’s performance, Honda is still on top with sales in line with the industry (-9.9%) while the arci-rival Yamaha has lost 10.6% and even the third, Piaggio, and the fourth, GPX, lost 29.6% and 52.2% respectively.
Behind new OEMs are emerging, with Lambretta (+29.8%), Lion (+3028%), EM (+1534%).
Global Production Hub
Thailand is a major motorcycle manufacturing base ranking in 5th place as regard to the production capacity (2 million), after China (23 million units), India (20 million), Indonesia (8 million) and Vietnam (3 million).
Thailand started the 1st motorcycle manufacturing in 1967 under the CKD system.
At the beginning decade of 1990, Thailand promoted the investment of four-stroke engine motorcycle instead of the two-stroke one to reduce emission problem and the production boosted reaching a capacity of 1.75 million annual units. The sales of motorcycles followed the development of the country representing the first device of personal mobility.
In the following years, while introducing Free Trade Agreements (FTA) which caused the cancellation of industrial protection measure, the industry started to export and to evolve in line with the global demand, learning new technologies and adopting state of the art rules for safety and emissions.
Nowadays, there are 7 motorcycle manufacturers in Thailand with total capacity of production at 3 million units per year. They are Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, BMW, Triumph and Ducati. Most of them are located in the Central and East regions because they are clusters of manufacturer as well as near to the seaport for export those CBUs.
