Motorbike prices to increase NT$1,000

Amid rising international commodity prices, motorbike prices will likely increase by NT$1,000 (US$32.86) to NT$2,000 next month.

The nation’s major motorbike producers raised their prices around NT$1,000 at the beginning of this year in a bid to reflect the rise in international commodity prices and domestic motor vehicle disposal fees.

“The price increase in the motorbike market this year is the most serious I have encountered,” Ho Ming-chang (何明昌), owner of a motorbike shop in Taipei, said yesterday.

Ho said the future price increase is inevitable as most of Taiwan’s motorbike components are imported from overseas.

Furthermore, the increasing costs have squeezed the profit margins of new motorbikes to almost zero.

The latest data provided by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications showed that the number of applicants for license plates for locally made motorbikes, — a figure used as an indicator of new motorbike sales — declined 10.63 percent last month from a year earlier to 64,936 units, a report in the Chinese-language Commercial Times said on Friday.

The decline in last month’s sales also put a halt to sales growth in the nation’s motorbike market for five consecutive months up to last month.

The total number of new motorbikes being sold in the first quarter of this year, at 170,308 units, saw a slight 0.49 percent decrease from the same period a year earlier, the paper reported.

Meanwhile, Hotai Motor Co (和泰汽車), Taiwan’s largest auto maker that also distributes both Lexus and Toyota models, said automobile sales last month dropped between 15 percent and 16 percent from a year earlier, to 22,000 units.

“The decline in sales is mainly due to the macroeconomic environment and has less to do with the presidential election [last month],” Hotai spokesman Steven Yang (楊湘泉), said by telephone yesterday.

Yang said that weakening consumer confidence is the main reason behind the declining automobile sales. He said that it would take some time for the market to recover.

In addition, Yang said the soaring international crude oil prices would not greatly impact domestic automobile sales, as Taiwan’s fuel prices are still low compared to other countries.