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Motorcycle sales see 6.8 percent growth this year

“Fifth-stage pollutant emission standards ... and high oil prices have both helped boost our sales.”

— David Chuang, public relations manager at Kwang Yang Motor Co

Domestic motorcycle sales grew 6.8 percent year-on-year to 798,496 units in the first half of this year, as consumers look to the cheaper alternatives for mobility, Taiwan Transportation Vehicle Manufacturers Association data showed yesterday.

Sales of motorcycles grew 16.11 percent to 405,726 units in the first half of this year, but declined by 13.2 percent and 28 percent in July and last month respectively from a year ago, because of the “ghost month effect,” statistics compiled by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽工業), the nation’s largest motorcycle maker, showed.

In spite of poor sales over the past two months, sales of motorcycles in the first eight months of this year amounted to 535,255 units, up 4.5 percent from a year ago.

“The fifth-stage pollutant emission standards set by the government’s Environmental Protection Administration [EPA] and high oil prices have both helped boost our sales,” David Chuang (莊家政), public relations manager at Kwang Yang Motor, said by telephone yesterday.

To meet the EPA’s requirements, Chuang said the nation’s motorcycle manufacturers have been required to install electronic fuel injection (EFI) engines on new models since July 1 last year. The standards will apply to all models at the beginning of next year, he said.

EFI engines can typically cut air pollution by 30 percent and cut fuel consumption by 15 percent compared with the existing carburetor-based engines, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council’s latest report showed.

Kwang Yang Motor, which sells motorcycles under the KYMCO brand, sold a total of 194,806 units in Taiwan in the first eight months of this year, which represented a 36.4 percent market share.

The company exports about 55 percent of its motorcycles to overseas markets, of which about 70 percent are in Europe.

“Because of lower profit margins and intense competition in the local market, the company will gradually increase the proportion of its exports,” Chuang said.

Yamaha Motor Taiwan Co (台灣山葉機車工業), a subsidiary of Japan’s Yamaha Motor Co, placed No. 2 in the local market with a 29.3 percent market share, followed by Sanyang Industry Co (三陽工業) with a 28.6 percent market share.
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