KUALA LUMPUR: Hong Leong Yamaha Motor Sdn Bhd aims to increase its share in the motorcycle market to 38 % next year from 35% presently, said managing director C.H. Ng.
He said the positive market environment and trend towards automatic bikes would augur well for the company in future.
“Yamaha managed to improve its market share to 35% in the first eight months of this year against 30.5% for the whole of 2006,” he said at the launch of the Yamaha Ego-S automatic bike yesterday.
“With this model and further new initiatives the company expects to roll out, we expect to grow our market share to 38% in 2008,” he added.
He said the introduction of Yamaha Ego-S was expected to sustain Yamaha’s dominance in the automatic segment, in tandem with the Yamaha Nouvo S.
Launching of the new Yamaha Ego-S: Unveiling the new bike are from left H.Hama Manager of Yamaha Motor Sdn bhd, Masahiko Arikoa Director of Hong Leong Yamaha Motor, Kwek Leng San President and Ceo of Hong Leong Industrial Bhd, Wee Hong Chairman of Malaysia Motorcycle & Scooter Dealers Association and C.H. NG Managing Director Hong Leong Yamaha Motor. “Yamaha currently dominates the ‘automatic’ segment with 74% market share,” Ng said.
The company pioneered the introduction of automatic bikes in the local market in 2002 with the launch of the Nouvo S, followed by the Ego in 2004.
“To-date, there are some 76,000 Ego customers in the marketplace,” Ng said, adding that the company was projecting monthly sales of 3,500 units of the new model.
He said the Yamaha Ego-S with its new innovative features would be targeted at buyers below 25 years, entry users and car owners who wanted a commuter for short distance travelling.
On the motorcycle industry, he said sales in the first eight months of 2007 had been encouraging.
“Demand for motorcycles grew at 5.4% to 329,207 units for the January-August period compared with 312,343 units in the previous corresponding period.
”Over the same period, Yamaha experienced strong sales with registration of 115,797 units or a 29% growth rate,” Ng said.
In terms of market segmentation, the 4-stroke moped continued to dominate with overall share of 83% while the automatic segment ranked second with a 14% share of the total industry volume, he said.
“The availability of easier financing schemes coupled with positive gross domestic product growth rate and higher disposable income due to the salary increase for civil servants will likely see motorcycle demand for the year reach a new all-time high of 480,000 units, surpassing last year’s 450,000 units,” he said.
Ng said an interesting development within the industry was the emerging trend towards mid- to higher-priced models.
“Models with sales price exceeding RM4,000 accounted for 53% of sales for the first eight months this year versus 28% in 2004,” he said.
The Ego-S, which comes in white, hot red and sporty black, is priced at RM4,578 and available at all authorised Yamaha dealerships nationwide.
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