Vietnamese buy fewer motorbikes amid pandemic

By Luong Dung October 15, 2020 | 05:13 pm PT

Motorbike drivers seen in Cau Giay District, Hanoi on June 9, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Hue.

Motorbike sales fell 17.4 percent year-on-year in the first nine months to 1.93 million units, according to the Vietnam Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers (VAMM).

The second quarter saw the lowest sales this year of 518,900 due to the nationwide social distancing campaign imposed in April to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Sales began to recover in the third quarter and rose 30.6 percent quarter-on-quarter to 677,700.

VAMM is made up by Honda, Piaggio, Suzuki, SYM, and Yamaha, but only Honda released sales figures.

The Japanese giant, which has an over 80 percent market share, saw April-September sales fall 25 percent year-on-year to 958,900 units.

Last year Vietnam, with sales of 3.27 million units, was the fourth largest motorbike market globally behind India, China and Indonesia, unchanged from 2018, according to Italian market research firm Motorcycles Data.