Kwang Yang may sell big Kawasaki

Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽工業), the nation's largest motorcycle manufacturer, may soon sign an agreement with Japan-based Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd to become the sole distributor for Kawasaki large-displacement motorcycles in Taiwan, the company said yesterday.

"We are close to making a final decision with Kawasaki ... and hopefully we will be able to sign the deal by the end of the year," said Chuang Chia-cheng (莊家政), a public-relations manager at Kwang Yang.

If the deal proceeds as planned, Kwang Yang may first open a flag-ship display store to take orders for the bikes in Taipei by year's end and hopefully start distributing Kawasaki bikes here early next year, Chuang said.

Kawasaki bikes are currently undergoing government emissions and noise tests. Imported bikes have to first cut through government red tape on licensing and emissions rules before they can be sold. The company, however, said the domestic market for large-displacement motorcycles is not as good as expected, citing weak sales over the past few months amid a slower economy. Taiwan started to allow the registration of large-displacement motorcycles in July.

"We originally expected to sell 300 big bikes per month in Taiwan. But we have only sold about 100 units per month on average," Chuang said.

Kwang Yang debuted two 250cc bikes priced at NT$185,000 and NT$145,000 per unit under its own brand name in July.

"With each model costing more than NT$100,000 and taking up a lot of showroom space, many of our local distributors said they are not interested in selling bigger bikes -- prefering instead to sell less-expensive scooters," Chuang said. Kwang Yang has some 2,700 local distributors.

Nevertheless, Pan German Motors Ltd (汎德汽車), general sales agent for BMW bikes, has secured more than 100 orders from the nation's big-bike enthusiasts since last month, the company said yesterday at a launching ceremony for BMW bikes.

Pan German is introducing nine different BMW large-displacement motorcycles to Taiwan, with prices ranging from NT$420,000 to NT$1.07 million each, said Jerry Kao (高世杰), marketing executive manager. The company is targeting sales of 300 units by the end of the year, Kao added.