Vietnam looks to become “motorcycle hub”

[Bob]

The Vietnamese government has announced ambitious plans to make the country into a major hub for motorcycle manufacture by 2015.

Under the plans, the initial goal is to increase output to fully meet rural needs and 90% of urban requirements – an aim which would mean no longer needing to import bikes and spare parts at a cost to the Vietnamese economy of USD 450 million.

Once this aim was achieved, the next stage will be looking to “turn poacher into gatekeeper”, by creating capacity to be a major exporter of bikes and parts, including components sold to international companies. The projection is that this could earn Vietnam some USD 400 million annually.

In 2006, 2.1 million motorbikes were produced in the country, 1.44 million of which were by major foreign companies such as Honda and Yamaha.

[Bren]

bugger....more cheap asian crap

[Romeo]

bugger....more cheap asian crap

Exactly, forcing the major producers to lower their prices in order to compete. I might just get that 2016 Hornet 250 after all ;].

EDIT:
Why the fuck would you negative rep me for this!?
"you dont know, get a bike. n00b"

[Sidewinder]

The Vietnamese government has announced ambitious plans to make the country into a major hub for motorcycle manufacture by 2015.

Under the plans, the initial goal is to increase output to fully meet rural needs and 90% of urban requirements – an aim which would mean no longer needing to import bikes and spare parts at a cost to the Vietnamese economy of USD 450 million.

Once this aim was achieved, the next stage will be looking to “turn poacher into gatekeeper”, by creating capacity to be a major exporter of bikes and parts, including components sold to international companies. The projection is that this could earn Vietnam some USD 400 million annually.

In 2006, 2.1 million motorbikes were produced in the country, 1.44 million of which were by major foreign companies such as Honda and Yamaha.

so what your saying is here comes another crappy brand like hyosung?

[Bren]

As some of you guys may know I am a forklift driver. Currently the company I work for has started leasing a new brand of forklift, EB is the make....what it stands for I havent got a clue....BUT these forklifts are a chinese of the toyota brand.. Now, the Toyota brand are bloody good, well made and seem to last a lifetime. These EB ones are crap...the drivers, and mechanics who work on them all agree. The build quality is shite...the hydraulics are not well thought out. I have had 4 major hydraulic problems in just over 1000 hrs of use....the thing rattles like an old fogeys teeth on a winters night, in fact just pure excrement....the only good thing is the motor,,,,and that is a toyota!

[carver]

The Vietnamese government has announced ambitious plans to make the country into a major hub for motorcycle manufacture by 2015.

Under the plans, the initial goal is to increase output to fully meet rural needs and 90% of urban requirements – an aim which would mean no longer needing to import bikes and spare parts at a cost to the Vietnamese economy of USD 450 million.

Once this aim was achieved, the next stage will be looking to “turn poacher into gatekeeper”, by creating capacity to be a major exporter of bikes and parts, including components sold to international companies. The projection is that this could earn Vietnam some USD 400 million annually.

In 2006, 2.1 million motorbikes were produced in the country, 1.44 million of which were by major foreign companies such as Honda and Yamaha.

ALLRIGHT!
a visit on the VTR 1000 should be in order.
il just grab sidewinders SP2

[janno]

In 2006, 2.1 million motorbikes were produced in the country, 1.44 million of which were by major foreign companies such as Honda and Yamaha.

So does that mean we are already getting bikes that are made there - or are they just the step throughs and little ones you see in Asia?

Where are our bikes built? eg an 07 GSXR 1000?

[Bob]

Interesting set of responses. So here is my two cent's worth of thought.

I get the feeling that at the moment, the production lines in Vietnam are there to produce bikes for their domestic market - so yes, all those little step-thru's etc. And an awful lot of money is pouring out of their country to Japan to fill their needs.

Which is step one of the great plan - fill your domestic needs yourself. Do that and that gives you USD 400 million a year to use to create the infrastructure to move to step two - start building for export. Reckon they'd be looking to get into selling their little step-thru's etc to other countries in that area - but of course if they have the industrial plant in place, then they could offer their services to Honda/Yamaha (and lets face it, Triumph have parts made outside of the UK and I'm sure Harley have outsourced a chunk of their components manufacture).

I wouldn't doubt that they'll look further afield to sell some bikes but they'll be entering an already swamped market if they look to go into exporting 125cc machines.

They don't have a history to fall back on (as when Triumph relaunched - the nostalgia angle was really useful to begin with), so they need to find their own way of reaching into a new marketplace.

Which brings me neatly to Hyosung. They appear to be the only one of the far eastern countries that are trying to get into larger capacity bikes. OK, initial efforts suffered from poor quality control etc... but they seem to be getting better. And the GV650 Aquila cruiser gets raved about in all the UK bike magazines (they all call it the best in it's class by a long way).

So they're aiming at market sectors where they can make a niche for themselves.

Of course, there is MZ/MuZ. Their thing always used to be 'cheap and cheerful' - but there are too many cheap and cheeful competitors out there now. So instead they've gone "Quirky" - take a look at their range - it all looks like they've decided to work out their own way of doing things. OK, you might think of them as a budget BMW - but they seem to do alright...

I reckon their (Vietnam's) intial entry to the outside world will be making parts for the big companies, then possibly being hired to make the smaller, cheap and cheerful stuff that is more cost-effective to outsource. After that, who knows? Will they do a Hyosung and try to make bigger bikes? I don't know - after all, they don't have a local point of reference (though the trailbike sector would make sense as an area to move into).

It would be nice to think that whatever company is generated to churn out bikes for international sales would try to do their own thing, rather than come up with even more badly built small capacity stuff, looking at companies like MZ/Hyosung etc. But that will take time.

[Sidewinder]

ALLRIGHT!
a visit on the VTR 1000 should be in order.
il just grab sidewinders SP2

i supose u can use it

[Sidewinder]

what are they going to call there bikes? VC? Charle? gooks?

[Sollyboy]

bugger....more cheap asian crap

Rides a gpx250

[Coldrider]

So Vietnam steals a march on us. They will manufacture what we can't/won't, jobs, exports for them?
That's right, we got pineapple lumps didn't we.

[Sollyboy]

So Vietnam steals a march on us. They will manufacture what we can't/won't, jobs, exports for them?
That's right, we got pineapple lumps didn't we.

NZ is not as clever a country as we may think , we can manufacture fuk all properly, i think the good ol kiwi no8 wire attitude is our worst enemy

[kevfromcoro]

Got to watch those asians,,
The chinese are producing just about everthing in the world
Have a look on the back of your TV,,or kitchen appliances
Now Viet Nam wonts to get in on the market
BTW..from what i seen...cant ride or own a bike over 175cc in viet nam.
KEV