Thailand Motorcycles Market disappointed last year. Following a three years growing string, in 2024 the market lost 15.7% at 1.58 million. Behind the traditional leaders, new OEMs are emerging, with Zontes and Triumph among the best.
Thailand successfully navigated a complex global environment and maintained macroeconomic stability following the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy contracted by 6.1 percent in 2020 but thanks to prudential economic management, monetary and fiscal buffers remained adequate to deal with the slowdown.
The subsequent recovery has been relatively slow, with average annual growth of 2 percent between 2021 and 2023. Thailand’s recovery has lagged that of its ASEAN peers, primarily because of significant exposure to underperforming global tourism and trade. The economy is projected to grow 2.4 percent in 2024. Medium-term growth prospects are diminishing as the economy grapples with slower productivity growth, structural constraints to innovation and competitiveness, and an aging population.
The motorcycles market, actually the seventh largest in the world, declined in 2020 before to rapidly recover in the following 3 years. In 2024 the market was deeply hit by slow economy and price increase and retreated below expectations.
Full year sales have been 1.58 million (-15.7%).
The Electric vehicles segment is gaining share and was moderately positive (+4.1%).
Looking at top manufacturer’s performance, Honda is still on top with sales in line with the industry (-13.0%) while the arch-rival Yamaha has lost 19.9%, while both the third, Piaggio, and the fourth, GPX, lost dramatically (-41.9% and 63.8% respectively).
Behind them, new OEMs are emerging, like Lion (+134%), EM (+368%) and Sleek (+164%).
Two companies shine, Zontes which started to heavy invest in the country during the 2024, reaching the 11th place with over 2.000 sales, and Triumph, which was near the 2k sales booming 135% from the previous year.



Global Production Hub
Thailand is a major motorcycle production area, ranking in fifth place in 2023 regarding the production capacity, after India (19.5 million units), China (15.3 million units), Indonesia (6.8 million units) and Vietnam (2.7 million units).
Thailand started its first motorcycle manufacturing in 1967 under the CKD system. At the beginning of the 1990s, Thailand promoted the investment in four-stroke engines instead of the two-stroke ones to reduce the 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 situated in the Central and Eastern regions of Thailand, as these areas form industrial clusters and are conveniently located near seaports, facilitating the export of completely built units (CBUs).
