Taiwan Motorcycles Market is struggling. Following the sharp -16.2% reported in 2024, the start of the current year was negative again, Year to Date March sales have been 173.119 (-6.2%). Gogoro is collapsing with sales down over 40%.
Economic Outlook
Taiwan’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.30 percent in 2024, a three-year high, after the country reported the better-than-expected economic growth in the fourth quarter.
Taiwan’s GDP growth in 2024 topped the previous estimate of 4.2% made in November to reach 4.3%, the highest level since 2021 when the country’s economy grew 6.7%.
Private consumption in the fourth quarter grew 1.94 percent, about 0.3%, higher than the previous estimate, while government consumption rose 2.2% percent.
Motorcycles Industry Trend and Perspectives
Taiwanese motorcycle market, the 12th largest globally, is often called the “kingdom of motorcycles”, with hundreds of thousands on the road at any given time.
Despite being open to imports, it is dominated by domestic manufacturers Kymco and SYM, who compete for market leadership alongside several local electric scooter producers. The combined market share of Kymco, SYM, and Yamaha Taiwan, which are mainly gasoline vehicles, is above 80％, while Gogoro alone dominates the electric market.
The market is mature and very sensitive to economic trends and government incentive scheme, resulting in a wavering trends in the last years.
The country was among the first to adopt incentives schemes for EVs, which allowed a very rapid segment growth already before the 2020, with the born of local companies like Gogoro. However, when incentives were cut, the EVs segment declined. creating concern among manufacturers and consumers.
Following the sharp -16.2% reported in 2024, the start of the current year was negative again, with January down 30%, only partially offset by the February (+13.8%) and March (+2.8%). Year to Date March sales have been 173.119 (-6.2%).
The electric segment is currently experiencing significant challenges. The L1 category is down 41.3%, and the L3 segment grew up 11.7% compared to the previous year.
Market Leaders and Performance
Looking at the competitive arena, in the duel among local giants just minor changes last year with the leader SYM gaining 1.4% and the reval Kymco down 6.5%.
Behind, all OEMs lost sales with Yamaha (-16.1%), Gogoro (-41.5%), Suzuki (+17.9%), Honda (-1.7%) and PGO (-23.3%).
